


Eyes On Fire

by SuperbiousEucatastrophe



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Corporal Punishment, Emotional Manipulation, Extremely Dubious Consent, Force-Feeding, Gaslighting, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Manipulation, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Misunderstandings, Nightmares, Omega Tony Stark, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rutting, Spanking, Steve Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Triplets, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2020-01-20 19:40:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 37,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18531817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperbiousEucatastrophe/pseuds/SuperbiousEucatastrophe
Summary: "From now on, you will not even think without my permission. You will learn your place or suffer the consequences."After thirty years of suppressants, public Beta Tony Stark collapses into Steve's arms, surprised by his first heat in decades. He doesn't know that this one encounter will change his life, and not for the better.





	1. Prologue

 

>  
> 
> _I'll seek you out_  
>  _Flay you alive_  
>  _One more word and you won't survive_  
>  _And I'm not scared_  
>  _Of your stolen power_  
>  _I see right through you any hour_
> 
>  _I won't soothe your pain_  
>  _I won't ease your strain_  
>  _You'll be waiting in vain_  
>  _I got nothing for you to gain_
> 
>  
> 
> -Eyes on Fire, Blue Foundation

 

* * *

Tony Stark was a Beta.

And not just any Beta. He was the loudest, most confident, most powerful Beta in the world. So powerful that most Alphas envied him to the point where they wouldn’t make deals with him out of pure aversion (and because Tony had won many lawsuits against Alphas who thought they could prove their dominance in a meeting).

And although most Alphas assumed he was secretly jealous of their presentation, they couldn’t have been more wrong. By being a Beta, he could refuse to take part in this whole Alpha-Omega drama that was going on for decades now. The Omega Rights Movement had grown big in the 80s and hadn’t really stopped until now, although there had been little to no change since then.

He was okay with being called a self-centered asshole but he was not a traditionalist. He did his best to support the Movement, to advertise its advantages. He might have been a Beta, but the people listened to him and were astounded every time he donated another eight-digit sum to the leaders of the ORM.

And as good as it made him feel, it was also one of the main reasons he and Steve Rogers did not get along at all.

There was only so much time Tony could give someone to adhere to the new modern world. Even if this special someone was an ice cube from the forties. The fact that Steve Rogers belonged to the part of Alphas Tony wanted gone only showed how old-fashioned the standards really were. He had had more than one fight with Rogers about the fact that Omegas ‘needed guidance’ and ‘needed protection’.

He himself knew many Omegas and neither of them - bonded or not - looked like they would need help. Not that Rogers would have cared. He was the same traditional idiot as always and Tony had gotten tired of contradicting. The topic was still brought up from time to time but both men had made their point too clear to discuss it further.

Today, they had discussed it again and Tony had just been too pissed to give him a sarcastic reply. Instead, he had told everyone he’d work in the lab and had stayed there. And he hadn’t come out. Twelve hours later, he still sat there, tinkering on his newest suit and living off energy drinks, coffee and spite.

He had wanted to make the cooling system smaller, to extend the shields and the arms instead. But he had just noticed that he had drawn the blueprints all wrong. The construction would definitely not cool the construction the right way. If he would leave it like this he would get a short circuit in no time. And of course, he had noticed this just now.

The engineer cursed silently; even freshmen at MIT would have done better. But he had not been able to think straight since yesterday. Surely, he was getting sick. All the signs were there: He had a high temperature, bordering to fever, and a headache that didn't seem to go away. Probably just the flu. But since Tony normally worked through his flus without turning a hair, this was not something he considered tragic. Just annoying.

The flu would have been one thing, but there was also his hypersensitivity that was going on for days now.

This morning, the taste of his normal Starbucks order (a venti skinny latte macchiato with soy milk and two extra shots of espresso) had tasted stronger than usual. It had been almost unbearable to drink, and he still didn't know why. There was a weak link he wanted to draw but he shrugged it off almost immediately.

The barista had screwed up. Of course, he had.

He shoved it away, denied the signs and tried to keep working. Something of an odd feeling started to grow inside his stomach. A tickling. Probably the coffee. Maybe an intern had messed something up, not the Barista. Those students could not even distinguish the stock market points from their GPA.

If anyone else would have told him about the signs, he would have laughed. He would have told them what was going on and probably made fun of them for suppressing the only logical explanation. But right now he was way too oblivious to see them.

He worked another twenty minutes until he stopped.

The clock was ticking too loud. Why did he even need a damn clock? Why did he need machines that made that kind of noise? Why could he not even listen to his goddamn music? Black Sabbath sounded like an odd noise someone would put into an alarm to make it sound gruesome. His head was throbbing to the music. Fucking stupid headache.

“Sir, I must inform you that-”

“Mute.”

He could not need JARVIS between his throbbing headache and his nausea, really. The last thing he needed right now was a loud voice.

“Sir, it is quite important.”

The fact that JARVIS had just unmuted himself made Tony frown. There were only a few protocols that would allow him that. “What is it?”

“Your biological parameters indicate you are going into heat, Sir.”

There was silence for the next few seconds. Tony’s frown turned into something else, something more panic-stricken and he went from denial right to bargaining. “I can’t go into heat, JARV. I took my suppressants this morning. You reminded me of it.”

“They seem to have failed, Sir.”

It made sense now. The fever. The inability to concentrate. His hypersensitivity. The itching, the scratching, the- “No, no, no, no. Damnit, JARV, what the hell can I do now? Okay, uhm...”

He took a deep breath. He was Tony Stark, not a stupid, daft Omega like Rogers would think. He had taken those illegal suppressants since he was thirteen, that made about thirty years now. If he would find no one during his heat he might die. This had always been a risk of taking them, right after infertility and distress. It had been worth it. Without an Alpha, he might die. Might. The first option he had was to go into his panic room, get some toys on the way and just hope that he would survive the next three days. Not the best choice he had, really.

Another option would be to call the Omega Distress Services but this would also mean that someone else would know of his secret and he was not having that.

The third option would be to call Rhodey, explain this shit to him and ask for his knot. No, totally not going to happen either. This was not debatable. First of all, this was a shitty favour he would ask of his best friend and second of all he didn’t want Rhodey to see him reduced to his basic biological instincts. Hell, he had just had one heat before his father had given him the suppressants and it had sucked.

No, choice two and three were impossible. Not only was what he had done considered a crime, but he would also have to tell the world that Tony Stark, the mouthy Beta acting like an Alpha, was actually an Omega.

The stock markets would fall, all the publicity for the Omega Rights Movement would be in vain. No, he wouldn’t have any of that. So it would be option one.

As soon as he stood, he felt how slick he actually already was. Goddamnit, stupid biology. The fluid almost gushed out and he was sure that every Alpha in a radius of 700 Meters would smell him like that. He needed to put on much of aftershave and hope he would not get caught by his teammates instantly. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen then.

The panic room was only a few hallways away. He would cope. Somehow. Normally, people could still think straight during their heats but he had never heard of a case that suppressed them for 30 years. With even steps, his mind getting more cloudy with each, he was sneaking into the panic room, pausing when he heard steps.

panic rose inside of him. He wanted to hide, to activate the suit, to disappear through a hole but his mind was even more clouded when he smelled the scent of an Alpha. His biology worked for him now, no matter how much his mind protested. He was panting, supporting himself on the wall. He needed and needed and needed and he felt like he was fainting soon.

“Tony?” Not him. Tony produced a last coherent thought. Not him. not Steve. Of all the stupid people in this building, it couldn’t be Steve. “Are you…? Tony!”

The other had already collapsed in his arms.


	2. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is screwed. Literally and figuratively.

Tony was burning.

Not the good kind of burning. And if he was really honest, not the bad kind either. He was just so hot, his skin was itching and he felt like he was spending the hottest day of summer in his winter jacket.

And there was something else. There was something he longed for, something he needed. He was too muzzy to think the sentence to an end. He needed. He needed something and couldn’t quite name it. He knew it was his heat, although this knowledge got harder and harder to access. There was only the itching feeling, the longing.

The first thing he noticed again, was how someone undressed him, relieving him at least from a part of heat. He sighed contently, not knowing why. His mind was racing, not comprehending what was happening. He was off suppressants, this was a literal fuck or die situation. Even in his state, he mused that this whole situation fucked him already up so much that he would probably survive the next 72 hours.

“Oh-!”

He moaned when he felt a thick finger circling his entrance. A great part of him tried to push away, to tell whoever this was to fuck off, but the part of his stupid biology leaned into the touch instead.

“I’ve got you.” He realized it was Steve’s voice. He realized that bastard really took advantage of this shitty situation. But at the moment he didn’t have the strength to fight back, to tell him to leave. His biology didn’t care about the circumstances. In this very moment, Steve was a tool for it. A tool to achieve what it wanted, what it needed. He was not a colleague anymore, he was a partner, an-

 _“Alpha,”_ Tony moaned and pressed closer again him, his moans only increasing when the other pushed the first finger inside of him. It didn’t hurt. No, he was far beyond _that_ point. Instead, he felt like a firework exploded inside of him. There was not even friction yet. There was far too much slick for that. Too much to feel a single finger yet. So he started to press harder against it. He needed to feel… _something_. Anything. He needed friction needed to- Needed-

“Shhh, I know. I am gonna help you, Tony.” Steve pushed a second finger into Tony, then a third. He wasn’t sure if preparing him was even necessary. But he wouldn’t risk something to tear. Who knew how long Tony hadn’t done this - the fact it hadn’t shown, that Steve had never found out told him Tony had taken illegal suppressants. He knew their risks - after all, there was a reason why they were prohibited.

"S-Steve-" he felt that Steve's fingers met little to no resistance. Eagerly, his hips moved and he begged Steve for another finger. In the end, he had four inside of him and could feel how his muscles clenched around them. It was strangely good, satisfying, but didn't feel as well as he needed it to feel. “Ple- Please, I-”

He didn’t know if he was begging for him to stop or if he was begging him to continue. Steve, however, seemed to interpret it to his advantage. He pushed his fingers deeper into Tony’s quivering form. “So you thought you could keep this a secret?”

Tony moaned, his hips slowly pushing up and down his fingers. He wanted to tell Steve to fuck off already, to leave him alone but it was impossible. He felt too much pleasure for this.

When he heard Steve growl lowly, his attention was brought back to him. Not that he could do much. All he could do right now was to hope Steve would fuck him now. Or not. Either way he wanted this decision to be made as soon as possible because he felt how he burned up even more. Although he hated Steve’s guts right now, he was impressed he could hold himself back this well. After all, he was sure his scent was extreme.

“Well, don’t worry, I will help you out, Tony.” Steve’s voice was cold and sounded aggressive at the same time. Probably he was mad he hadn’t known. _Well, cry me a river, soldier boy._

“On your hands and knees, Omega. Present yourself.”

“Noooo,” he managed to breathe out softly. No way. This was a very humiliating position and Rogers would never see him like that. He looked away, trying to do… well, _something._ But he wouldn’t stand up anymore, he was way too far into his heat.

 “Okay.” Tony felt like crying when the fingers that stretched him disappeared. He whined and tried to rock his hips more as if it would bring them back.

“You either do as I say or I will leave,” Steve explained lowly. It didn’t sound like an explanation, more like a warning. And it probably was. This heat would surely be lethal without help, Tony was sure. Although he would have liked his honor intact, he didn’t want to die. So he turned around, pushing his body up and spreading his legs. Normally, he would have died out of shame - no, normally, it wouldn’t have even _come_ to that - but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care. He needed friction, needed something, _someone_ , to fill him. “Please, Alpha.”

He heard Steve chuckle lowly. “Desperate now, are we?”  
  
“Please.” Really, he would destroy him with facts. Slowly, meticulously. But not now. Right now he wanted nothing else but Steve to push inside of him, to end the heat, the burning.

Steve growled. Enough stalling. He couldn’t wait longer himself. After all, Tony’s scent was incredibly increased, probably because of the withdrawal of suppressants. _"Omega..."_ he growled and he didn't even need to check, Tony was already wet and open. He pressed his length against Tony’s hole, still finding the self-control to stay still for a bit longer. “I want you to beg for it, Tony. I want that there will be no misunderstandings that you _wanted_ this.”

Tony bit back a sob of frustration. “Please, Steve. Please, Alpha, I need you inside me. Now. God, I’ll do anything, just-”

With a content smile, he pushed inside him. 

Steve was greeted with Tony’s wetness and warmth. He had to admit that it felt marvelous, Tony didn’t seem to have had someone inside of him for a long time. He was tight, even tight for his heat and Steve couldn’t help but groan at his clenching muscles. His hand grabbed Tony’s neck and pushed him down the mattress as his thrusts became more erratic. Tony had to concentrate to press back to him each time. It didn’t matter too much, not for him. All that mattered was how deep Steve had buried himself inside. All that mattered was the soothing effect his hard thrusts had. He still felt hot but in another way.

 Steve ran his hands down his sides, caressing Tony’s back, then his thighs. In the end, one wrapped around Tony’s member and stroked it in a fast, merciless rhythm. Steve knew Tony had been very lucky with his body. His length was astounding for an Omega. So this was why none of his previous lovers had suspected anything. He didn’t doubt it was more than functional, especially with the suppressants.

 “Mhh, I- God, Alpha, please-” Tony couldn’t form coherent sentences anymore, it was too late. There was only Steve. There were only Steve’s hands and Steve’s cock and Steve’s growls that made him feel good, made him feel needed. Only he could give an Alpha this pleasure, only _he_ -

 Immediately he shook the thought from his head. Not happening. He would not like this. Steve was helping him through this shitty heat. After that, he would probably pay him to shut his mouth and everything would be okay again. Or at least he hoped so. He had to hope because his mind got cloudy again.

 Steve’s thrusts got harder, faster and Tony felt how he was melting into a content subspace where he only responded to them. He felt great, felt like he was being torn apart and put back together with every thrust. Steve hovered over him, he had turned the shorter man by now and looked into his hazel brown eyes.

Seconds later, his head wandered to Tony’s ear, sucking his earlobe. It aroused the Omega even more and he felt yet another trail of slick wander down his thighs. “Please, Alpha, I am _so close-_ ”

“Are you now? Oh, I guess you are right. All wanton and wet for me, Tony. If you could see yourself now…” He hit his prostate with each push, tired of the foreplay. Tony wasn’t sure if he could handle it anymore.

“S-Steve, please, god I-” he couldn’t hold back any longer. His muscles clenched around Steve’s length and Tony let out a cry of release. He now knew why Steve had changed positions: he would have collapsed on the pillows otherwise.

Steve wasn’t finished yet, though. He pushed eagerly into him, his tongue licking over his bonding mark. He wouldn’t, would he? _No, no, no, no, no!_

 “N-No, please, Alpha, I don’t want- _Ah-!”_

Steve bit down his bonding gland until he tasted blood. Immediately he felt how their scents were mixing, how Tony’s scent was changing. Everyone would know now that he was his. Tony panicked and tried to push away. No. No. Just no. But before he could struggle any more, the hormones pushed him into an ecstasy he couldn’t quite fathom. The rush, the endorphins, the oxytocin… he knew about them theoretically, but experiencing this himself was unbelievable. Steve’s knot swelled almost at the same time, leaving Tony breathless and too overwhelmed to cope.

He just laid there, eyes wide, and tried to comprehend what had just happened, without much success. Instead, the Omega closed his eyes, drifting into sleep when the itchy feeling disappeared and got replaced by utter and complete exhaustion.


	3. Clarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wakes up the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thank you so much for the massive feedback! And here I thought this fanfiction would not have /any/ notes. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I am sure I will not update all too often but now I am kind of motivated (mostly through comments and kudos). So here is a new, if short chapter. Have fun! A reminder: English is not my mother tongue so if I have the wrong idioms or something I am more than happy if you tell me. Thanks, folks!

When Tony woke up he was not in his bed. And really, he could see the difference more than clearly. His own bed was big, with satin sheets and various soft cotton pillows; Probably the only thing of his Omega biology he hadn’t suppressed. 

Instead, he was lying in an average sized bed with Air Force Blue bed sheets. The mattress was something they undoubtedly advised as  _ comfortably hard. _ Trying not to fall into panic - and that really meant a lot for Tony since Afghanistan - he tried to connect the dots, to remember. He was lying on Steve’s chest, his right arm wrapped around the other man. Their legs were entangled together. He tried to find a regular breath pattern again, so Steve wouldn’t wake up from the change. He needed to think first. 

Captain fucking America knew of his presentation. His heat was over, he would be able to think clearly again if he gave his brain enough time to function again. His other hand touched his bonding gland and-

“ _ Son of a bitch!”  _ Tony almost  _ jumped _ out of bed, taking several steps back. He was close to summoning his suit, to punch his teammate up until he would look like tomato soup. Bonded. Steve Rogers had  _ bonded  _ him. “Are you fucking kidding me, Rogers? That’s what your republican ass stands for now?  _ Rape? _ ”

The other man growled; It seemed he had woken him up. The clock showed Tony it was 05.12 AM. Steve got up slowly, looking at him with a gaze Tony couldn’t quite place. “Rape? You were in  _ heat,  _ Stark. And it didn’t look like you would have been able to get through it on your own.”

“Yeah, I was in heat. Thanks for getting me through it, Rogers, really, you are a saint to lower yourself to fucking my perfect bubble butt, but you had  _ no right  _ to bond me! What the hell is wrong with you? I swear I am gonna press charges. I am gonna ruin you in court. You can’t just bond someone and your stupid traditional ass knows that. There is a nice thing called the law of the fucking United States of America, you ignorant, shitty-”   


Smack. 

Tony gasped, not comprehending what had just happened. Steve hat hit him. He hadn’t  _ attacked _ him, hadn’t started to throw some decent punches. No, if he had, he had felt way better. He had  _ hit _ him. Steve Rogers had slapped him in the face like they were in a cheap soap opera. He didn’t hold his cheek - really, this was under his dignity - but looked at him wide-eyed, too much in shock to continue talking. 

“Are we done being hysteric?”

He didn’t give a reply. 

“You kept your presentation a secret. That’s a felony, Tony and we both know that. I knew you were selfish but I never knew you were selfish enough for something like this.”

“ _ Selfish?”  _ he gasped. Tony was at lost for words, even now. Normally, he could give everyone a witty comeback, no matter the situation but this was just too much to comprehend. “Really, Rogers, I know you still live in Medieval Times but there are people you can’t boss around just because your dick can inflate.”

“You will listen to me now, Tony,” he approached and his slow even steps made Tony panic. On the inside of course. On the outside, he didn’t even flich. “You know as good as I that the Omega population is very small, that we have trouble producing enough-”

“Well, maybe the reason that this is such a problem is the fact that until fifty years ago, children that presented that way were fucking  _ drowned _ !” he had balled his fist. “And maybe this is the reason why I don’t want to be associated as a fucking breeding machine. Believe it or not, Rogers, but I have better things to do that getting knocked up twice a year.”

“Not anymore.”

“Fuck you, Rogers. You can’t force me to do  _ anything _ ,” he huffed and stood. “Now, if you excuse me - I gotta call my lawyer.”

“You will stay.” 

Tony gasped. He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. “You are not the boss of me!”

“I am your legal guardian now. I  _ am  _ the boss of you.”

“Not if I sue you over it. Let’s see how legal you get to be when the jury finds out, you  _ raped _ and bonded me.”

Steve put one foot in front of the other, leaning against the wall with a smug grin on his face as if he was trying his hardest to keep it together so he would not laugh into his face. “You can act as if you had not wanted it as long as you want, Tony. I asked if you wanted this. You  _ begged  _ me to knot you.”

_ “ _ _ In the world for which we strive every instance of sexual intercourse will be entirely and enthusiastically consensual on the part of each participant; every instance of sexual intercourse during heat or rut will be negotiated beforehand.” _

“Or are not really quoting the manifest of this stupid group, are you?” he raised his eyebrows. ”This fairytale book won’t help you in court, Tony. And you will sadly have to attend it.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“You hid your true presentation. This is a serious offense,” he sighed, now a bit softer. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you through there. I will vouch for you. It is not your fault, you just did not know better than to be self-destructive. Like every-”

“If you continue speaking if will smack you so hard you will be called Captain Australia!” he hissed. “See, this is exactly why Dad hid it, why he told  _ me  _ to hide it. I am not stupid, Cap. I am the genius of my generation. And the fact that you want to shove your dick inside of me won’t make my IQ any lower, sorry.”

“I never said you very stupid, Tony. I never did. But you are self-destructive, like all unbonded Omegas and it is  _ my  _ obligation to-”

“Cut the crap, Cap. I will not have this shit any longer.” He crossed the room and swore to himself that he would smack anyone that would follow him, that he had enough- But Steve held his wrist still tightly and he flinched at the strain. 

“There is no way I will let you continue like this. You are  _ my _ bonded Omega now.”

Tony decided that he would Steve what he wanted. If he wanted to  _ think  _ Tony was a self-destructive, uneducated, impolite Omega he would deliver in a heartbeat. He spat in his face. “Fuck you.”

“This is it. None of that anymore.” Steve held both of his wrists together, his expression was unlike any Tony had ever seen on him. He was sure his wrists would be bruised the next day. “From now on, you will not even  _ think _ without my permission. You will learn your place or suffer the consequences. Is that understood?”   


“Let go!” Tony repeated, trying to get rid of him. It didn’t work obviously. Steve’s hold was as tight as it could possibly be. Nevertheless Tony tried, even knowing himself that this looked pathetic at best. “I am gonna fucking sue you, I will make sure you will be punished for this!”

The other man just sighed and dragged him out of the door. “If you want an unsuccessful lawsuit over this, I am fine with it. But you  _ will  _ correct your presentation in front of the Registry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe some of you have already noticed but this will not only be a porn without plot fic. It is also a fanfiction that will criticise society. And porn. Lots of it. But you get my point. Comments and kudos are appreciated as always since that keeps me going


	4. Lawsuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony wants to sue Steve but a voice of reason tells him not to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, yet another chapter!  
> Well, I am currently on holiday and so I have much time to write. I will return back home in two weeks so that's when updates will get... a bit delayed. Idk, I still try to post at least twice a month.

The Presentation Registry Office was something Tony had thought he’d never see again. He had been there, once, when he had presented with thirteen. Still, he remembered his father’s words of utter and pure frustration. He could almost  _ see  _ the clenched fist again, his lips pressed together.  _ “Not even that you can do right.” _

Finding someone to hide his true presentation had been easier than Tony had thought. His father knew someone from the PRO. Of course, he did. He knew almost every important person in New York. As soon as his Beta nature was clear, everything went fast. Maybe five minutes. Most Betas would not even need two minutes in there, though. They were not interesting enough for the State to actually invest time in them. Unlike unbonded Alpha and Omegas who got called here quite regularly to explain why they had not found a mate yet. Rhodey had once joked that the Registry was the one exclusive club that had not offered him full membership. 

But now he was here, his wrist still squeezed tightly by Steve’s hand. What sounded like the nice beginning of an anecdote made him panic. He could not tell the Registry. The company would lose stock market points, the government would surely take their revenge for all the years Tony had denied them his services...

“Steve, please- Look, I am sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have spat in your face. Now, can we please go?”

“Oh, Tony.” he sighed as a reply, shaking his head, although it was barely noticeable. “You will not be able to avoid this.”

“You know exactly what consequences there will be.”

“Yes, and  _ you  _ knew it as well.” He guided him towards a glass door with golden bordures, stating that this was the  _ Omega Registry Section.  _ If someone would see him there, if someone would suspect anything…

There was no point. Steve’s grip was as strong and he knew he wasn’t able to fight against the super soldier serum. Instead, he gathered all the information he could, tried to build up a strategy when telling the supervisor that he had been  _ bonded  _ against his will. Not even those sexist bastards could deny that this was a felony. Maybe he could really talk himself out of it, who knew. He had escaped worse situations. Compared to Afghanistan, this would be a walk in the park.

They went through the glass door, and Tony tried to breathe evenly. He still was Tony Stark and he was still capable of doing everything those bastards had told the public over and over he couldn’t. Right now, all he had to do was threatening to call his lawyers and they would be more than keen on telling Steve his place. No one would toy with him. 

“Can I help you?” 

Tony clenched his jaw and looked at the blonde petite woman standing in front of them. Her skirt ended just above her knee and her grey jacket matched her shoes and the rest of her outfit. 

“Yes, I would like to talk to the director, if it is not too much trouble, Ma’am.”

“Oh, none at all.”

Tony knew they had merely hired this Omega out of three reasons: Firstly, she would calm down the others (which was, when Tony thought about it, sadly very, very true). Then, she would surely make a nice impression for all of the OFM; A token Omega so the bureau could not be accused of sexism. And lastly, he was sure that it would calm down certain Alphas as well that no other Alpa was approaching their mate. 

Psychology he didn’t give two shits about. Steve had let go of his wrist and he brushed over it. There would definitely be a bruise later. Of course, everyone knew them.  _ Fabulous. Always wanted to become part of a Brangelina couple. _

The Bureau of the director was covered with diplomas and magazine covers, her desk an homage of herself. There were no family pictures, nothing. Only a sign with golden letters:  _ Mrs. Angela Gatehouse _ . If Tony hadn’t already known that she would not help him at all, he actually would have put hope into it. Sadly, he was more than aware of this position and what views people had to have to get there. 

“Mr. Rogers, it is a pleasure to see you again.” The woman reminded Tony of Michelle Gomez with her strict look and her dyed titian hair.

“Mrs. Gatehouse,” he nodded politely and gestured Tony to sit. The engineer waited until Steve himself was already seated. He was not a dog. “We came to you because Tony seems to have withheld his Omega nature from the Registration.”

Her eyes went wide and Tony rolled his eyes even more.  _ “Tony Stark is an Omega?” _

“Yes and Tony Stark is right in front of you so you can stop talking about him as if he wasn’t there,” he pouted, looking at an *Omega Helpline* Poster that was under his dignity. “So, the actual reason I am here is the fact that Captain Rapist here bonded me without my consent during my heat and-”

“A moment, Mr. Stark. I need to understand. So, you hid your representation for all those years and pretended to be a Beta.”

“So?” he asked defiantly

“Did you take suppressants?”   
  
“No, I just chanted the Anthem for twenty minutes every day and hoped Lady Liberty would spare me from my heats -  _ what do you think Mrs. Gatehouse?” _

“I had no idea,” Steve continued. “Until his suppressants failed and he went into heat.”   


“Yes, they tend to do that, although normally much sooner. You  _ do _ know why suppressants are illegal, Mr. Stark?” she sighed as if she was explaining a child the millionth time why they were not supposed to play with scissors. He knew, yes. But his father, as well as his own experience, had convinced him that the consequences with them were far better than without them. With them, he had maintained his freedom, he had been able to advance the world, invent things that changed it. 

“Insomnia.” She listed the first side effect.

“Never had a good sleep, even before I presented.”

“Panic attacks.”

“Cry me a river.”

“Loss of fertility.”

“Never wanted children.”

“Loss of appetite.”

He just shrugged. 

Mrs. Gatehouse sighed and looked between the two of them. Tony had already realized it was more important to her that he had not been a breeding machine for the last thirty-five years than the fact he had been raped and bonded. “I wanna press charges. This man next to me bound me to him while I was in heat and not thinking straight. He did, however.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I didn’t. He didn’t have his heat for more than three decades, his scent was… overwhelming.”

“I understand,” she said. Tony changed his mind. She didn’t look like she would believe Steve blindly and she didn’t look like she was fond of the ORM but at least she was willing to listen. She was a Beta. It was probably for the best she was. Of course, her opinion was biased but she was better than an Alpha. 

“His father talked him into this. He made him believe taking suppressants was the only way and typically for someone of his presentation he just-”

“Shut up, Rogers, or I will fucking castrate you!” 

“Mr. Rogers, I would like to talk with your mate in private if that is quite alright with you.”

_ Your mate. _

Tony thought he was going to be sick from the word. He felt like he was a child about to get the telling off of his life from his principle. But he would not let himself be impressed by something like this. 

Steve nodded. “Of course, yes.”

“Don’t worry, I will call you in when we are done.”

Tony watched him leave the room and exhaled. He hadn’t even known he had held his breath. “Listen to me, Lady. This man dragged me here after raping and bonding me. Without fucking  _ consent! _ So you surely understand why he is the last fucking guy I wanna see right now. I want to press charges.”

“Well, this is your right, Mr. Stark.”

“Goddamn right!” He exclaimed, glad at least  _ someone  _ was helpful here.

“However,  would not recommend it,” she continued. “For your own safety.”

Tony let out a loud groan and took a deep breath. “Okay, yeah, give me a moment, yeah… So, let me guess; I need him because I am my self-destructive self without me and could get ideas like  _ independence,  _ or dare I even say  _ equality?” _

“No, Mr. Stark,” she sighed. “I am just afraid you will not like the consequences a lawsuit will bring. Even if you succeed - and knowing your lawyers, you will most likely - you have also committed a crime by hiding your true presentation. Without an Alpha by your side, your sentence could be anything but pleasant for you.”

He sighed. “Let me guess; I get a fine? Do I have to find myself another Alpha within a week?”

“No. The state will become your legal guardian. Think about your company, Mr. Stark, do you really want the president to be in control of it? You would have even fewer freedoms than the Omegas you tried to protect with your foundations. Steve Rogers may not be your favourite choice, but he is better than this. Not to mention that the state will not press charges if you are bonded if you are doing it right.” 

“I beg your pardon?”

She took a deep breath. “God, I could get fired because I am telling you this. You  _ heard _ Steve Rogers: Tell them a story. Tell them that you were just naïve and stupid enough to trust your father, your legal Alpha back then. You thought being an Omega is bad. You trusted him when he said suppressants were the only way out of misery. He is dead anyway so he can’t defend himself anymore. Tell them how you were self-destructing like every other Omega and you didn’t even notice it. That’s why they will drop the charges and just leave it to your Alpha to punish you.”

“You have no idea if it will be like that. The state could-” he sighed. She was right. Those bastards had wanted his company ever since it had been established and this was the chance now. “What if I take another Alpha? Instead of Steve.”

“You could, but I doubt the state would let you. They feel safe when you are with Mr. Rogers. They will think you are less trouble. I know you think about your friend Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes but I doubt this would work. Even if he agreed - and I am sure he would - Mr. Rogers could still deny you a break of your bond.”

Tony clenched his jaw. She was right. God, he should have just stayed in his lab and called Rhodey. Rhodey would have never done this. He had been such an idiot. “So you want me to pretend I am a clueless innocent little Omega with no knowledge of strategy or consequences?”

“It might be your only chance. Maybe you can convince Mr. Rogers to leave you the company. He does seem like someone you can make deals with.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Why are you helping me?” 

If there was something he knew, then that not many people were really concerned about what happened to his kind as long as the population grew. And she was Beta, so the whole conflict would not have to affect her at all.

“I have an Omega daughter. I am trying to make the world a bit better for people like her.”

“So you want me to sign the bonding contract?”

She nodded. “For what it’s worth, there are worse choices than Steve Rogers. And you would still be able to work if he allows it and he seems to be understanding to a certain level.”

He pressed his lips together. He had pissed off many in the government. If they wanted, they could bond him with Justin Hammer or even worse. If it  _ could _ get worse. He knew Rhodey was unsuitable as a mate anyway since he was travelling much and Tony needed to stay in his tower if he wanted to keep working in his lab. As much as he wanted to be the self-righteous dick many people saw him as he couldn’t do this to Rhodey. His college friend would have to give up his entire life for him. This was not going to happen. 

“Fine. I assume you have a contract template?”   


“On it. Apart from this, I must ask you to write down your confession.”

Tony frowned. “You know, the last time I confessed was at my first communion with eight.”

His mother had been very catholic and although Tony never had been the religious type (mostly due to his father that had made fun of his mother for believing in  _ such absurd things _ ) he still was a member of the church. Maybe he had not lived a virtuous life but he was at least better than the many priests that molested children.

“Mr. Stark?”   
  
“Huh?” he had drifted away again. After heat symptoms, he guessed. “Yeah, sure, give me a pen.” There was not much to write. He was Tony Stark and an Omega and his father had bribed an officer of the PRO to make it look like he was a Beta. He had gotten suppressants ever since he was thirteen. No one knew. He had pursued the career of a playboy so no one would notice. And no one did until now. “Here.”

“Thank you.”

Steve was called into the room again and looked at Tony expectantly. “So?”

“Yes. I will…” he sighed. This was unfair, this was a despicable thing to force him into. Everything inside of him screamed to fight, not to accept it. But his mind, sharp as always, knew this battle was lost. “‘I’ll sign.”

“See? I know you’d change your mind. I promise you, Tony, I will take care of you from now on and I will-”

“Fuck you. You forced me into this, don’t pretend you are the bee’s knees, Rogers, I know pretty damn well that you are not. I am only doing this because it will save my integrity and the goddamn-”

“When we are at home,” he interrupted him, his hand painfully wrapped around his wrist again. “You will get some rules.”

The stern look on his face and the fact that he just seemed to have embarrassed him in front of an official state agent indicated it would be a set of rules he would not like.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always: The more comments/kudos, the more motivated I am. Not an obligation of course, I am glad for everyone that enjoys the story <3


	5. Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony earns his first punishment.

When Steve had explained to him he would receive rules he had thought he would get dragged into a corner and Steve would yell them into him. Instead, he had been told to get something to drink for himself and to sit at the table. That didn’t sound too bad so he had complied and was holding a steaming hot mug of coffee in both of his hands, looking at the (technically) older man. “So, you wanted to talk.”

“Yes, and-”

“God, not that face. You are making your lecture face.”

Steve sighed and continued speaking. “It was impossible how you behaved at the PRO, Tony. Really, I can’t believe that you would embarrass yourself _and_ me this way. Your attitude towards me and others will change now. You will treat me with respect and in exchange, I will make sure you will be cared for and that you stop being so self-destructive.”

“Oh, good luck with that, soldier boy,” he laughed sarcastically.

“You will receive a set of rules now. Your genius brain is surely capable of recalling them by heart without writing down notes.”

“Is that a passive-aggressive command? You are improving, Steve. I wonder if we can expect a swear word by next year.”

It was not too bad. So far Steve was at least not entirely an asshole, although that would surely change in time. He knew the basics of Alpha-Omega rules and they weren’t too pleasant. Tony had even had difficulties to obey as a _child,_ not to mention as an adult.

“The first is obedience. You will do as you are told or-”

“Deal with the consequences, yeah,” Tony interrupted him and took another sip from his coffee.

Steve took a deep breath. “Exactly. And you will be polite. I can’t believe I even have to mention this. You will not insult me. And you will not attack me either or you will regret it.”

“I spat in your face. This isn’t exactly an attack.”

“ _Tony.”_

“Sorry, yeah, listening. We are with ‘ _Do as you are told and don’t be mean’_ so far.” Really, he felt like he was in kindergarten again. On the other hand, these rules weren’t as catastrophic as he had imagined them to be. He could work with that.

“Now to the specific rules. Before I tell them, it’s important for you to know that there will be more rules in time. But I will never punish you for not following a rule you didn’t know before. I will be fair.”

“Oh, will you? Nice of you that you don’t punish me for something that would be shitty of you.”

Steve ignored him. “You will get up at 8 AM and go to bed at 12 PM every day unless I say otherwise.”

“Yeah, look Cap, that won’t work.” Normally he worked until about three or four and slept about two hours. Sleeping eight hours was nearly insane. He had work to do, after all.

“It is not debatable.”

“Then I _make_ it debatable.”

“You will do as I tell you or you will-”

“Yes, suffer the consequences. You repeat yourself,” he huffed. “We’ll see how that’ll work.”

Steve tensed. Tony seemed to have succeeded in making him uneasy at least. He was annoyed, obviously, like he had to deal with a defiant child. “Apart from that, you will eat three meals a day. I will prepare them the first few weeks. In time, _you_ will cook for us.”

He shrugged He liked cooking more or less but rarely found the time. “Sure, fine, whatever.”

“For what it’s worth, you are allowed to keep working, but I want you to ask before you do. And you will have to earn it. If you break rules deliberately or if you start to think you can defy me just for sports, I will take this privilege away from you and you will engage in things Omegas should normally engage in.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Fucking you has never sounded more innocent.”

“I meant other things. Your nest, for example.”

“I don’t need a pillow fort, thank you,” he scoffed. No need to highlight his presentation, his bed would do just fine. It had nice, warm pillows in it and was comfortable.

“You should have a special room. It decreases anxiety attacks.”

“Jokes on you, Cap. I just run on caffeine, anxiety, and spite.” As if he wanted to demonstrate his point, he emptied his mug with one single gulp.

“You are rude again, Tony. I was really nice and lenient until now but even _I_ can lose my patience.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You are not scary, Cap. I know you wanna be. And I know you think I would give a shit about your att- ah-!” Tony flinched when Steve pulled him up the chair. His coffee mug broke into a million pieces. Tony was shocked, to say the least, both startled by the noise and by the sudden movement. He got almost _thrown_ into his bedroom.

When he had regained his balance he heard how the door got slammed behind them and he swallowed thickly. He had gone too far, it seemed. And although he had claimed not to be scared of Steve, a shiver ran through his spine when the taller man approached him with slow, even steps. Tony resisted the urge to step back and decided not to lose face and remained.

“It seems you already need a lesson. If you want to behave like a child I should maybe treat you like one. Put off your trousers.”

“Pardon?”

“You heard me. _Now,_ Omega.”

Steve’s tone of voice had changed and frankly? Tony didn’t feel too self-confident anymore. This man was more than capable of breaking his neck with one hand. he could not escape. And even if he would activate the suit and get the fuck out of here, the authorities would be after him for his whole life. After all, he was not very popular along them unlike Steve.

His hands trembled when he opened his jeans button but he managed to undress with as much elegance as possible. “I am s-”

“Your boxers as well.”

“Steve, I am sorry. Please, I don’t want to-” He would not rape him again… would he? No, Steve Rogers was many things but not a rapist. Last time he had had a bit of a dubious consent but he was sure that he would not do this. Not against his will anyway. It was not his style.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion. Either you undress or _I_ will do it and this will be everything but pleasant for you. Are we clear, Omega?”

Tony took a deep breath. “Yes, Alpha.”

“We have learned our manners, I see. The shirt as well. Everything.”

Tony had never had problems with being naked in front of others but this was different. He had no idea what was going on.

“Now you’ll go on the bed, your position is on your hands and knees.”

“Steve-”

“Enough. If you fail to do this, your punishment will even be harsher.”

He knew in this very moment that Steve meant it. Whatever it was that Steve would do right now, it would not get better when he struggled. There was no option where he came out on top. This was the best chance he had at the moment.

With as much elegance as he could produce, he kneeled on his bed and fell on his hands. Steve was not stripping. This meant… “Really? A spanking lesson, Cap? Look, not that I am not kinky but-”

“It’s twenty. You will count them. If I don’t hear you properly or if you stop, we will start all over again.” Steve said sternly before his features softened. “It will be my hand because you did as you were told. Otherwise, it would have been the paddle. As you can see, Tony, it is much easier when you just obey.”

Tony wanted to give him a snarky reply but the first blow took his breath away. Being a playboy, Tony had often done this to his one night stands after they had asked for it, but he had never been the receiving part. He got that this could surely be arousing when done gently, right. But Steve was hitting him with such brutal force that he made his point more than clear.

When he reached ‘ _eight_ ’ Tony felt really in pain, not that he would have shown it. He was _Iron Man_ , he had woken up after an open heart surgery without any anesthetics and not even flinched.

“We’ll start from the beginning, then.”

He had not even realized that he had not counted number nine. It had been a simple slip of his mind. But that didn’t matter, he thought bitterly.

19, then. He felt like crying when he reached 15. It hurt. He would have never thought how _much_ it really hurt. Steve didn’t try to make this enjoyable, obviously. It was still a punishment. He hit him every time on the same, sensitive spot. His skin was irritated, pulsating and Steve’s super soldier serum made sure that the blows were hard, painful and not too regular.

When they finally reached 20 (Steve had decided he didn’t like uneven numbers) he was sobbing into the pillow he was holding to muffle his sounds. His whole body was shivering to cope with the pain.

He was startled when Steve’s hand was on his backside again, this time to soothe him. “Shh, it is over and you are forgiven. I am proud of you. You took your punishment so well, Omega.”

Tony could not think straight. He was just relieved it was over. He tried to stop the sobs that had not entirely come from the pain. No, most of his tears were tears of humiliation. He had been ordered to go on his knees and Steve had punished him as if he was a little child. And it had hurt but what had even been worse was the fact that he knew he could not escape his fate, nothing could have changed Steve’s mind. It terrified him, this thought.

“Shh, I’ve got you.” Tony felt how Steve wrapped his arms around his body to soothe him. The Omega was still trembling, trying to cope with what had just happened. _I’ve got you._ He didn’t know if it was comforting or making it even worse. Steve Rogers had got him and he would not let him go.

He was too exhausted to protest and was at the moment just glad to have someone near him now, even though he knew this feeling was some Stockholm Syndrome Bullshit.


	6. Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony fucks up at Breakfast.

When Tony woke up he needed a few minutes to remember what had happened in the last four days. 

Heat, two days passed out, PRO. 

He still couldn’t believe what Steve had done to him. He tried to come up with something to take revenge on him but before he could think about the issue, his alarm clock went off. It illuminated the room and played the same background music as always.

_ “I wish you a pleasant morning, Mr. Stark. Today’s forecast indicates a slight drizzle at 2 PM but also states that the rest of the day will be sunny. Today’s news are-” _

It was eight in the morning, it seemed like Steve had set the alarm clock because he hadn’t. He wondered how someone as vintage as Steve had managed this but didn’t pay it too much mind. He had bigger problems now; For example, his exhaustion.

“Snooze.” He was surprised by his own words. Normally, he didn’t use it. Normally, he could only sleep three hours, maybe four, before waking up. Either because of a nightmare or simply because his body was used to run on a single sleep cycle. Now, however, he had slept six hours for sure. And he had slept deeply. He knew this had to do with Steve - he was not daft, after all - he just didn’t like the fact his presence helped. No, it hadn’t  _ helped.  _ Steve had gotten violent towards him and his body had needed the rest to heal better.

“You won’t snooze.” Steve had woken up as well and stretched, accompanied by a loud yawn. Then he stood.

“Shouldn’t you be making breakfast?” he asked, sounding as annoyed as possible. 

“Careful, Tony.” Steve’s tone of voice was low again and he guessed he was not that much of a morning person, after all. It was better not to make him angry again. He was not really into another spanking session. “Stand up.”

Tony sighed and got out of bed, wincing when his backside touched the mattress. Once in his lifetime, he was glad he had done as he had been told; He didn’t want to know how this would have felt with a paddle. Probably he would have passed out. 

After a quick shower, he went to the adjacent dressing room and put on an AC/DC shirt in brown, together with black jeans and blue sneakers. He was five minutes early at their - no,  _ his  _ dinner table. Steve had really made an effort; Tony was really surprised he knew how to handle his kitchen. 

The table was already laid and he could see scrambled eggs, bread, orange juice and other items ready for use. Tony was not sure where Steve had got this from. His fridge was usually empty and Tony was not sure when he last had JARVIS buy orange juice.

“Oh, uhm… the coffee machine’s a bit complicated. You can make like thirteen different drinks with it, so I’ll make my own coffee, thank you.”

“Yes, right. We should lower your caffeine-”

“No."

He pressed four buttons on the machine and put his Latte Macchiato on the table, along with his tablet.

Steve clenched his jaw. “No.”

“It’s like a newspaper, Capsticle. I just wanna read the news.”

“You can do this after breakfast,” Steve said sternly although the bastard really had the audacity to make it sound like a proposition.

“No, I  _ can’t,  _ Cap, because I never did it after breakfast, in fact, I normally don’t eat breakfast at all. And do you wanna know why? Because I don’t want to and because I can do whatever the fuck I want at  _ my  _ table in  _ my _ penthouse in  _ my  _ tower.”

Steve sighed. He had thought he had made it clear yesterday but it seemed like he had not. “It’s  _ our  _ penthouse now, Tony. Well, strictly speaking,  _ mine. _ ”

Tony clenched his jaw. This had been one of the main reasons his father had signed him up as a Beta; Everything he possessed was seen as a dowry. And since his father had only thought the worst of him (as usual), he had been concerned to give his legacy to a random  _ Alpha  _ that would have been able to knock up his son. 

Only now, Tony realized what he had signed yesterday. Steve was the official owner of Stark Industries. Of all of his manions, his private jets, his yachts…  _ everything.  _

“Now isn’t an  _ Alpha  _ supposed to be the provider? Looks like you suck at that. I owed the bed you slept in, I owed the table you sit at and the food you eat and the whole  _ goddamn  _ apartment. So much for a traditionalist, huh?”

“Don’t be rude, you surely remember where this has brought you yesterday.”

“I still can’t believe you did this. You know, this is called  _ domestic violence  _ and you could end up in jail for it.”

“No. If you were a Beta it would be domestic violence. I don’t need to remind you that you are not.”

“You know since we are all patriotic and righteous; Is it really right to treat a person differently just because of their presentation? Hell, I thought you had some manners in the good old 1920s. Dad always told me you treated Omegas like delicate flowers, courting, and those things. Where is your twenties spirit now, huh?”

“You are not a flower.” Steve shrugged. “Now sit down and eat. I made an effort.”

“Sorry, I will kneel and praise you for doing basic simple household tasks after eating.”

He looked at breakfast and decided to just go for his coffee as always. Steve surely would be more than capable to eat this entire meal without him even taking a  _ bite.  _

“Won’t you eat?”

“Nah, I am not the kind of man for breakfast.”

Steve set down the fork and looked at him with a mix of resignation and anger. “Tony, it is a rule. You will eat three meals a day. You can even decide how much you want to eat, but eat a bit at least. I don’t like punishing you but if you leave me no choice I will.”

Tony conceded. There was no point. He couldn’t do this all day long. “Can I start with an apple? I mean it when I say I am not the type for breakfast.”

“Of course, do you want me to cut it into slices?”

“Thank you, last time I checked I wasn’t four.” He took the fruit and bit inside it, trying to come up with a plan. Any plan. This man would not stay here long enough to knock him up, this much was clear.

He watched how Steve started to eat his own meal: A generous serving of scrambled eggs, several toasts and at least a pint of orange juice. It took Tony just as long to finish his apple and in his opinion, this was proof that he had in fact not been hungry. At least the whole ordeal was over. 

“Can I read the news  _ now?”  _ he couldn’t believe he needed to get permission  _ to read _ from a guy that had forced him into this arrangement.

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Mr. Honeypie.” he opened his news app and immediately went pale. They knew. Well, of course, they did. If Tony had thought there would not be a leak before the public announcement he was really daft. He could not believe it. And his worst fears had come true as well: Stark Industries had lost stock market points, the ORM  would surely not be so well after this reveal either. Steve was the one portrayed as a hero for taking someone  _ as old and stubborn as him  _ as a mate. To show him the  _ true gift of submission.  _ He had to stop reading after a while, not comprehending how those people were actually able to believe this nonsense. He was not treated as a person anymore. Not one article had tried to put themselves in his place.

To him, it was really astounding how one single changing fact could ruin his reputation forever. Many articles analyzed his behavior and tried to link it to his nature as if it had been evident all along that he wasn’t a Beta. He knew they were merely doing this to relieve their conscience. After all, he knew how the press worked.

Many of them were excited for his first appearance as an Omega. They could fuck themselves, he decided. He knew about Steve’s views and although he seemed to be more lenient than he had claimed to (at least in their apartment) he wouldn’t trust in him blindly.

The only reason Stark Industries had not lost all its influence in one day was because Pepper was an Alpha and had become the face of the company. Thank god. Nevertheless, he was all over the news, his play in the Avengers even questioned. Various writers tried to evaluate if there had been fewer deaths if Tony had in fact  _ been  _ a Beta. It was getting ridiculous. 

He tensed more and more, got angrier with every article and in the end smashed his tablet against the window. Since Loki had been here it consisted of bulletproof glass. His tablet, however, did not and broke into million pieces. 

“Tony!” Steve had flinched when the tablet had broken and it gave Tony a bit of satisfaction. Not enough to overshadow his anger, though. 

“You! You are responsible for this shit! Fuck you, Rogers! I wish you would have stayed in the fucking goddamn ice!”

Tony had never seen someone move so fast. Steve got up and grabbed his hair, kicking him in his stomach with full force. Tony sank on his knees, hands around the spot to shield it from further attacks while he tried to remember how to breathe. 

“You will never speak like this again, are we clear? Really, Tony, for someone so smart you have a hard time doing  _ anything  _ right.”

He got dragged onto his chair. When his backside hit the surface he winced again. Everything hurt right now. His stomach would surely have a big black bruise tomorrow and he didn’t want to see how his butt looked like. 

“Open.”

Tony needed a few moments until he saw that Steve was holding a spoon in his hands. A spoon with scrambled eggs on it. He had no idea why the hell he was insisting on food now, after all, he had just gotten a decent punch into his stomach. No optimal condition for eating.

Tony opened his mouth and his theory was confirmed. He wanted Tony to eat. The scrambled eggs tasted nice, Steve had really made an effort. A second spoon got shoved into his mouth, then a third. After the sixth, Tony was more than full. “Steve, I can’t eat more. Seriously, I-”

“Open.”

“Please, Steve, I can’t eat more. I’ll eat more at lunchtime, promise.” he sighed, hoping he would somehow succeed in getting out of this mess. 

“I said open.” His tone of voice didn’t leave any room for misunderstandings. If Tony would fail to do it, there would be worse consequences than eating his eggs. 

There were eleven spoons in total. Tony knew because he had counted. He felt too full, bordering to sick when Steve shoved the twelfth spoon into his mouth. “Alpha, please, I can’t eat anymore. I’ll throw up, I mean it.”

But Steve didn’t seem to hear him and shoved spoon after spoon into him until Tony felt how he got sick (Spoon fifteen). He turned away from Steve, frantically searching something he could-

He threw up in the kitchen sink. Panting, he still leaned over it and tried to collect himself. Then he threw up again. 

When he was done, he returned to Steve with a stare he interpreted as  _ ‘Look what you made me do.’  _ He wouldn’t have any of it. 

“Sit again.” He held a butter knife this time.

“Steve, I  _ threw up.  _ I can’t eat anymore.”

“Well, if you threw up, you’ve got new space for more breakfast, right?”

Tony let out a whimper that surprised even himself. “You  _ already  _ punished me with a hit in my stomach, you don’t have to-”

“I punished you for being rude and insulting. What you said hurt me, so you can imagine now how much. No, this is for refusing to eat breakfast and smashing your…  _ device _ on the window. You should learn how to control your emotions. And you will eat until I think you’ve learnt your lesson.”

“I’m gonna throw up again then.” he tried to argue. 

“You can throw up as much as you want. You will eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for supporting me with comments and kudos, it's a real motivator to keep on going!


	7. Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve thinks about his relationship with Tony.

Steve was more than frustrated. He would have never thought it would come this far. He had no idea how to go on after this. It was getting ridiculous. 

It was scientifically proven that Omegas without a mate tended to be self-destructive, tended to neglect their own needs in favour of other things. After all, this was how nature had created them; It worked this way. If Omegas did not have those issues, there would be no reason to look for a mate. Simple biology.

Tony was the perfect example: Everything he had done so far was drinking too much and spend several days awake in his lab without proper nutrition or water. But Steve could change that. He knew he could. He had given Tony simple rules. Rules for his best.

Eating three meals a day was considered healthy. Sleeping at least seven hours was as well. Then he had wanted him to be respectful; Something he expected from everyone, no matter their presentation. And he had told Tony he would control the access to his lab so he didn’t work himself to that. 

Tony needed guidance and safety. Just letting him continue to slowly kill himself was no option. It was not a set of rules that was considered cruel. No, he had been so lenient and understanding with Tony. 

He knew Alphas that had other rules for their Omega that were more complex. What they were supposed to cook and when. Some of them were expected to be of service for their mate. Some of them would get seriously punished for contradicting their Alpha. Some of them were even supposed to sleep with them whenever they wanted; Their opinion was not valid in that respect. 

He had not demanded a single one of those things from Tony nothing but ‘ _ Eat and Sleep healthy’, ‘Don’t overwork yourself’  _ and  _ `stop insulting me.’  _ But even these rules he had thrown back at him. If he had been the traditionalist Tony had always portrayed him us his mate would not be conscious at the moment. Sighing, he wished he was still in the forties where Omegas knew their place and accepted it without much of a debate. They were vulnerable without an Alpha and they had known it. And in exchange for their mate's protection, they had cared about them as well. Quid pro quo. A simple, natural exchange that had gone so well so far. 

He had understood that Tony was anything but pleased when he had read the news but losing his composure like this was just childish. Throwing things around, refusing to eat… his mate seemed to be a four-year-old. And only discipline and consequences would make it right. He cursed Howard for convincing Tony being an Omega was wrong. It was a wonderful thing and if he had not been brainwashed all his life he would surely make a good mate.

But this was not how it was and so Steve would have to put lots of work into changing his behavior. He had to start to eat enough. he had to sleep enough. And he would not go on three-day lab binges anymore. He wanted his best. This was his purpose in this relationship, after all. 

Like always, though, Tony had no idea what was good for him. Instead of thanking him, of being grateful for Steve’s control and rules, he spat them back at him and this had to stop. There was no point of return for the other; The PRO knew about his presentation. The public knew. And it was crucial Tony had someone in those times. 

His mate was in the bedroom at the moment. He had no idea if he was crying or not, it was hard to see. He understood this consequence, this  _ punishment  _ had been harsh for him but he needed to stop thinking he could do everything he felt like doing. And refusing to eat his breakfast out of pure defiance was something he didn’t take lightly. But this had not be the reason. Breaking a new gadget just out of anger had been. Steve had grown up with almost nothing and Tony had thrown the tablet around like it was nothing. 

He didn’t like to punish him yet this was Tony’s fault. If he was not so defiant, they would get along well. Not that Tony would see that. In his opinion, Steve did this onlx to his amusement, he was sure. 

Sighing, he knocked on their bedroom door and entered. “Are you alright?”

“Leave. Just leave, Steve.”

“I… alright. I am in the living room if you need anything.”

“I won’t. Just leave.”

And so he did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I know a short chapter. I just wanted to highlight Steve's opinion for a change. he isn't as vicious as one might think and I think his thinking makes sense... somehow.


	8. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets to say something about his treatment and gets the comfort he needs

Tony was spared from lunch.

He was relieved that Steve understood that eating food was not really on his to-do list at the moment. He could not believe that he had done this. He couldn’t believe he has gone this far. His throat was still sore from the gastric acid that had found its way up to his throat.

The worst thing about it was that he could not go to the authorities with this. His was considered _normal._ Hell, just now he got why his father had signed him up as a Beta. Being an Omega sucked. But he couldn’t avoid Steve forever and he would surely not be taken as someone who could be intimidated just like that.

He stood and went to Steve in the living room. “What you did this morning was fucked up on so many levels.”

“You threw a $1700 gadget at a window.” he started. “You started to say very disrespectful things. You only ate an apple which is little.”

“So? It’s _my_ business what I am eating and what I do with my tablets. And I meant every single word about you, just for your information.”

“You will not enter your lab for at least a month.”

Tony tried not to slap him in the face. “I will. If you want to or not.”

“You won’t. Do you think this is easy for _me?”_ he asked. “Do you think I like punishing you and teach you how to behave? I don’t, really, if I could choose you would just behave like every other person on this planet but you need some tutor lessons when it comes to that.”

Tony balled his fists. “Stop treating me like a goddamn child!”

“Then stop acting like one!” he hissed. “Really, just- just stop. Just go back to your room and do whatever you want, as always. I can’t deal with this right now.”

“ _You?”,_ he gasped. “ _You_ can’t deal with this right now? You forced me to fucking throw up and _you_ have enough? _You_ were the one with the brilliant idea of _fucking_ bonding me, Rogers, so _deal with it!”_

“You need _help,_ Tony! Can’t you see it? You are not good for yourself. You are self-destroying, you-”

“Shut up!” he interrupted him. “ _I_ am talking, Steve. Your Alpha ass will listen to me now, for once in your life!”

To his great surprise, Steve really stopped talking. “I am listening, Tony.”

“Every time ever since we met you don’t give a shit about if other people are comfortable as long as _your_ interests are all covered. You always think you know what’s best for people but you never make a damn effort asking them! Maybe I didn’t want to get _bonded,_ Steve. Maybe I _decided_ that I wanted to live without someone punishing me whatever I do.”

“You didn’t _live,_ Tony. Don’t call this _a life_.” he contradicted. “It’s everything but.”

“According to whom? Oh yeah: You.”

There was another pregnant pause and Tony decided that Steve wouldn’t understand anyway. The other still seemed to change his mind about this.

"I tried to explain it to you. What you make of it is not my issue. Now, I made dinner.”

“No.” he said. “No, Steve. I can’t eat right now. Not after that breakfast.”

“It’s soup. Something an upset stomach can bear.I know it was not the best punishment for you. I made a mistake and I am sorry.”

“You are?” He raised his eyebrows, not sure what to make of this _‘confession’._ This was the first time Steve apologized and really, it surprised him, caught him completely off guard.

“I was frustrated and desperate. it was not okay of me to lose control like that,” he continued. “But it’s done. All I can do is make it better.”

Tony didn’t trust the Alpha. Not even a bit. But his upset stomach would trust that damn soup. He was hungry. After all, he had barely been able to digest breakfast. At the same time, he never wanted to eat again. Steve was not friendly. He was one of those entitled Alpha idiots thinking they could do with their Omega what they wanted. He was one of those Alphas Tony hated. This was no change of heart. He just didn’t know what would await him.

“I thought about what you said - about the forties. I think I was just mad at you for keeping your presentation a secret. I wanted to punish you for it as every Alpha would. Because you don’t have the judgment _I_ have.”

Ah, there it was again. The omegist view that Omegas couldn’t do shit. Tony sighed internally. Steven seemed to notice that and promptly continued.

“I don’t mean it as an insult, Tony. It is only natural, right? Nature wanted me to take care of you when we are bonded so it would be stupid to give you the same judgment as it gave me. In that case I would be futile.”

 _“_ _We hold these truths to be self-evident: Firstly, that omegas, betas, and alphas are all equally rational and capable of making practical, professional, and financial decisions.”_ Tony quoted. He was not sure if Steve was trying to make him understand or if he wanted to manipulate him.

“Tony.” he sighed. “The people that published that manifest were Omegas, maybe Betas. They have no _idea_ how Alphas think and feel. And yes, sometimes having a mate isn’t all fun and games, but do you think I _want_ to punish you? I don’t, really, I don’t. But it’s comforting for _you._ If I am honest, I think I’d prefer to be an Omega.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Why would you even say that? Omegas have only disadvantages: I can’t even have a goddamn _bank account_ without you. I can’t work without your permission. You can abuse me as much as you want to-”

“But I won’t. Tony, when did I ever do anything I didn’t tell you beforehand? I told you about the rules, you broke them. There was a punishment.” He led Tony to the dining table and made sure he started to eat the soup before he continued to speak. “Whenever you break a rule I punish you and it is forgotten. Is this not easier, Tony? You do something wrong, get punished and you can let go of the guilt. _Any guilt. I,_ on the other hand, can’t.”

“It’s not worth the trouble, trust me.” Tony sighed and ate his soup. He had been right; It worked wonders on his upset stomach. He even thanked him after dinner, merely out of curtsy of course. He was too exhausted to rebel today. But tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a new day to screw him up.

* * *

_He was in the cave again. In the goddamn cave he hadn't thought about for the past few weeks. He was in so much pain: His chest felt like a hole had been ripped through it, which was surprisingly accurate, given the circumstances._

_He was so hungry and promised to himself to never take food or water for granted again, a promise he would break later. Right now he was kneeling on the dirty floor, his head put underwater. His head was underwater, but unlike the actual memory the water was warm and it was more of a bathtub than a trough. They threatened to take away the car battery, to let him die on the spot if he wouldn't help them. Somewhere, he could smell the disgusting smell of scrambled eggs._

_He coughed up water again, telling them that they needed him and that they could go and fuck themselves. His head got pulled underwater again and this time he was sure he was not going to make it._

He woke up panting and sweating, realizing there was a hand on the reactor. "Get off me!"

Immediately, he punched the intruder in his face and fell from the soft surface. Hectically, he tried to orientate himself as he moved back into a corner, his body still on the floor. He wanted to ensure there would be no one behind him.

The light got switched on and it was blinding for him at first. He squeezed his eyes shut and could only open them twenty seconds later. Oh god. Steve was bleeding from his nose.

Tony realized what he had done and fell into shock. He couldn't move, everything went numb. "I..." he had hit him. He had hit Steve. No matter what these men had done to him, he was sure Steve would have even worse ways of making him regret what had just happened.

He had never been scared of Steve before. But then again, he had never hit him without provocation. He needed to tell him that he was dreaming, that this had not been on purpose. But he was still trying not to cry. Stupid damn Omega biology. He had been more than glad that this over-emotionality had been locked away alongside the other aspects of his biology with the suppressants. Well, not anymore. He knew he probably only consisted out of distress pheromones right now. "I am so sorry, please, I am sorry, I didn't mean to, please, believe me, please, I just… I thought you..." his voice cracked.

He had been more than indifferent when Steve had set his rules and when he had punished him. It had sucked but he had never felt so anxious before. Maybe because this was an extreme injustice. His only crime was his PTSD, not that Steve _“Walk it off”_ Rogers would understand that.

In his distressed state, he hadn’t even noticed that Steve had stood up and approached him. He had woken up with the sentence _“Get off me!”_ and a sharp pain in his nose. It seemed to be broken. He had half wanted to scream at Tony, tell him that now was not the time to discuss them cuddling or sleeping in the same bed, especially since holding him was a natural instinct. But by the time he had opened his eyes, Tony had already transformed to a sobbing ball in the corner, babbling apologies for the hit and trying to reason it with something Steve would not quite comprehend. All he knew was that this had not been some plan to make their life even more difficult. His Omega had been scared, no, _panic-stricken._

“Shh, Tony, look at me”

The other obeyed after some time, his whole body still trembling.

“Take a breath - please. Just breathe. It’s okay, Omega. It’s alright.” He had hesitated to touch him yet. He knew about these sorts of things. He had been in the war, after all.

 _“I am sorry”,_ Tony whimpered.

Steve had never seen him like this before. No cocky smile anymore, no restrain, just utter desperation and distress. He slowly put his arms around him and let him cry on his shoulder. “Shh, that’s right. Let it all out. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I…”, he sobbed and tried to stop so he could give Steve a normal answer. “I am sorry, I just… nightmare and Afghanistan and it… it was- It was real and then you had your-” he burst out into tears again and needed another moment. Steve let him take his time patiently. “And then you had your hand on my reactor and I thought-”

“...I’d rip it out.”

He nodded and started to sob again. He was crying in front of Steve. Steve saw how he was crying like some five-year-old. God, his father would have given him a decent beating if he had seen him like this. Of course, he knew crying was a natural instinct. he knew everyone did it once in a while and he also knew it wasn' the end of the world. Of his pride, maybe. Steve soothed him and stroked his back until he had calmed down a bit. “Come along, okay?”

“I am sorry, Steve, please, wait until tomorrow. I- I just-”

“I will not punish you, Omega. You have done nothing wrong. You were in distress. If even, I should have woken you up. It’s my job to care about you, remember?”

He nodded weakly. Yeah, that was true, at least according to Steve. He had told him hours before that was what he saw his role in the relationship as. “But your nose-”

“You went through a flashback. You didn’t mean to. You are forgiven.”

Like Steve had said earlier, the guilt fell from his shoulders. Maybe being an Omega had really its advantages. If he had been an Alpha in this situation he would have had abused his Omega and considering his strong attitude towards abuse he would have needed much of time to get over this fact. 

Steve asked him to sit at the dining table again and came back with a warm mug. “It’s milk and honey. Helps after a nightmare.”

"Is that the 1940s version of it?" he tried in an attempt to find his humour again.

"You could say so."

Tony thanked him quietly and started to take little sips out of it. Stupid flashbacks, stupid weakness he had just shown, never again. He swore himself this wouldn’t happen again. He would never need Steve’s comfort again. From tomorrow on.

After he had finished his milk, Steve led him back to bed. it was 03.23 AM. “Your nose…”

“...will heal faster. Supersoldier, remember? I’ll let Bruce have a look tomorrow.”

This seemed to calm him. Steve’s arms did. He felt warm, protected, safe. Like he was flying.

“I won’t let them hurt you ever again, Tony. You are mine now.”

He nodded at that. True, Steve might have not always been decent, but he was better than those men in Afghanistan. He had comforted him, made him some milk. He was holding him and had not made a fuss because of his nose.

He fell asleep with the feeling that everything would maybe work out. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see, guys, well, not really. Here another chapter. I kind of struggled with this one, but it is necessary for the second part of the story. Yeah, I don't wanna tell you too much yet ;)


	9. Bargain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony explains his reasoning more to Steve.

When Tony woke up, he felt Steve’s tight embrace around him. It felt good. He was warm and comfortable and hadn’t slept this good in ages. He decided to revel in the feeling, since the alarm-clock would go off in twenty minutes. Tony looked at Steve’s relaxed facial features. He kept forgetting how young Steve really was. He was physically still in his twenties. Almost half as old as him. His nose was not in a strange angle anymore: It seemed Steve had corrected it himself. 

Still, he tried to put the pieces together. Last night, Steve had taken care of him. He had not hit him (and knowing Steve this was a miracle) and he had soothed him. He had held him tight and reassured him. This was something new. Tony was used to being ridiculed for his nightmares or told not to be overdramatic. Never before had there been anyone to actually acknowledge his feelings. Well, apart from Rhodey.

“Good morning.”

Tony flinched and was shocked to see Steve suddenly awake. “You scared the living sh-”

“Language.”

Tony shrugged it off and yawned. They still lay there together, their bodies entwined. He took a deep breath: “Thank you… for last night.” 

It was not the most comfortable thing to do. He had never been the man for apologies. But it was important to him that Steve knew that he appreciated it. Tony was very thankful for the fact that Steve had been there for him. 

“I am glad I could help.”

“I will not cry in front of you like a child again,” he clarified. “That was the whole Omega hormone thing. I normally don’t do that.”

He meant it. The suppressants had stopped those emotional outbursts. This was why he had drunk too much alcohol, he thought. They had stabilized his mood but also made him stop feel too many emotions. In a desperate attempt to feel something, he had started to take alcohol.

“You will do it more and more now that you stopped taking suppressants.”

“Yeah…” he sighed. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“How did it come to it?” Steve asked, curiously. “How did you get the suppressants in the first place? Did  _ Howard  _ give them to you?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. Better that way, he said. And the bastard was right.”

Steve looked at him with those deep, blue eyes and shook his head. “He wasn’t, Tony. What he did to you…. the suppressants. This is vicious. It’s… mutilation, almost and-”

“No. Just… stop talking, alright? I don’t wanna talk about it. Please.”

Something about Tony’s tone of voice made Steve stop. He wrapped his arms tighter around him. “Okay, Tony.”

He was relieved that the other didn’t insist. Instead, both of them were close for another twenty minutes. Tony wondered if he would get used to this or not. There was not much he could do. An unbonding ceremony, maybe. But this would be painful and afterwards, he would get an Alpha by the state. One he  _ didn’t  _ know. As much of a pain in the ass as Steve was, at least he could judge him fairly well. 

When the alarm clock rang, both of them stood. While Steve was heading to the kitchen to make breakfast, Tony was showering and dressing. 

He went into the kitchen with his favourite AC/DC shirt and dark jeans. Steve had made pancakes and since none of them had anything to say, they ate in silence. 

“I presented with thirteen,” Tony started out of the blue. “Dad was raging. I don’t know, I guess the thought I could be Omega never crossed his mind. Probably because I didn’t help mum with the cooking 24/7 or whatever other idiotic theories you traditionalists have on that. Well, I went straight into my first heat. It sucked. And my old man refused to call Omega Distress Services.”

Steve frowned. “Who helped you through your first heat, then? You can’t have done this alone.”

“Trust me.” He stopped eating his pancakes and swallowed his bite before continuing. “I would have preferred it. Instead of the ODS, I got laid by  _ Uncle Obie.  _ And yes; It was just as disgusting as you think. Apart from the fact that  _ technique  _ was not really his specialty, he also didn’t give a shit about my feelings. It hurt like a bitch.”

“He didn’t prepare you?” 

“Nope.”

Not in a million year would Steve have ever thought this was even possible. Not getting prepared during a first heat was considered cruel. After all, the stretch was uncommon and many Omegas had problems with dilation when having their first time. 

“After the whole ordeal, my old man just gave me a box of suppressants and called it a day. You know, after beating me senseless for having the  _ audacity  _ not to be an Alpha.” 

Tony still was not fond of those memories but was glad to finally be able to talk them off his chest. 

“That’s… I didn’t know, Tony. I mean, Howard was a friend. He was… I thought he was a good man.”

“Yeah, I bet you did. God, I hated you as a child. I heard about twice a day how much rather he’d have  _ you  _ as his son.”

Steve didn’t press the issue further. but at least this explained the hostile attitude Tony had given him the moment they met. “How did he evade the recognition procedures? You can’t just drive to the PRO and declare your presentation without backup checks

Tony shrugged again. “He knew someone, probably. I have no idea. I was more than glad not having to go through the whole heat ordeal every month and pretended it had never happened.” Neither had he wanted to carry some alien life in his stomach for six months. 

“Look, I understand now that you are traumatized in this respect. But your father was wrong. You are an Omega. You are important as well, you know. You can create  _ life.  _ Our population is shrinking for decades now and  _ you  _ are one of a few individuals who can help.”

“Yeah, by getting knocked up over and over again. I am not a breeding machine, Steve.”

“I know,” he sighed. “What I meant to say-”

“Yeah, I know, I know.” Tony ate up. “I’ll be in the lab, if you look for me.”

“No.”

Tony frowned, not sure if he had heard Steve properly. “Excuse me?”

“I told you you were not allowed to go to the lab for a month because you broke your tablet.”

Tony still looked at him in disbelief but Steve kept up his stern face. He knew this side of Steve for a few days now. He knew raging against this would not do shit apart from getting him hurt. The next step, then. “Can’t you give me another punishment? Please, Steve. You know how I am if I am not able to work.”

“You could finally turn one of your many guest rooms into a nest. You still can’t go into the lab but it would be a pass time.”

“Steve, I already told you; I don’t need a nest. I am fine without one.”

The other rolled his eyes. “Two weeks without the lab and in exchange, you start to cook and start furnishing your nest. My last offer.”

He nodded, trying to somehow get his breakfast down. He couldn’t look at the scrambled eggs. He could not even smell them. So during the whole meal, he breathed through his mouth. 

_ “Sir? Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes wishes to see you.” _

“Rhodey?” He knew Rhodey was supposed to be in Hawaii right now, so he was more than surprised. Then again he had probably heard about this whole Omega-Beta mess about him. “He is my best friend. Please, Steve.”

He looked at him, trying to somehow show him that it was important to him. They were not even bonded for a month so another Alpha would be risky but not impossible. 

“Fine,” Steve nodded. “But you won’t be alone with him.”

“He is my friend, Steve. He is-”

_ “Tony.” _ His tone of voice left no room for interpretation. Either he would see Rhodey with him or not at all. 

Tony sighed. “Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the nice comments and encouragements you guys are giving me. You rock, folks!


	10. Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey is shocked about what happened. Tony has to deal with the aftermath.

“Rhodey, thank god,” Tony had never been more thankful to see his friend. it was obvious that Rhodey’s decision to come here had been a rather spontaneous one; He still wore his uniform and looked like he had  _ sprinted _ from Florida to New York. He had been in Miami to do some sort of special training for three months. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

“Oh, trust me, I can imagine.” he stepped closer and looked over to Steve as if he was playing with the thought of straight-up murdering him. “I came as soon as I heard of it.”

When they hugged one another, Tony could feel how tense Steve was through their bond. He didn’t care. Rhodey looked Tony over; mainly to locate bruises or sprains. Nothing. It was only two weeks and yet Tony’s body was already slightly curvier, his hips slightly wider. Nothing a normal person would have noticed. But Rhodey did. “I think we should talk.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah…”

“Can we talk privately, Captain?” Rhodey asked, now facing the blonde with feigned politeness. 

Steve clenched his jaw and Tony held his breath. He didn’t want this to get out of control. There would be nothing worse than a dramatic fight over this. “I will go to the headquarter. When I am back you will have discussed whatever it is you want to discuss with him. The rules apply. And if you even think about touching what’s mine, Lieutenant Colonel-”

_ “He is just a friend,” _ Tony groaned. “Really, Rogers, you act like a sixteen-year-old teenage girl.”

“I will smell it if you-”

“I am aware, Captain,” Rhodey said. “Nothing will happen. I have self-control.”

Sassing Steve Rogers together? Tony felt like in college again where Rhodey would cover him whenever he pissed someone off. Even back then the Omega had started fights with people twice as strong as him. Counter to most Alphas, Rhodey had been brought up in a very progressive household and had never seen Omegas as inferior. There had been many times where Tony had wanted to tell him but he had always found an excuse not to. 

Steve left after several assurances of Rhodey that he would not touch him and that he knew well enough what the consequences would be, finally leaving them alone.

“Goddamnit, Tony!” He hissed as soon as Steve had closed the door. “You are an Omega?”

“Well spotted,” he muttered, showing him his bonding glands. “And a bonded one since two weeks. Lucky me.”

“Why did you never tell me? God, Tony, everything could have happened if-”

“My suppressants failed,” he explained. “I went into heat and Rogers helped me through it. Nice of him, really, the bonding part though was non-consensual. Not that I could press charges without going to jail myself.”

“Why didn’t you call  _ me?” _ he asked. “Of course I wouldn’t have been happy that you lied to me your whole life but it would have been better than  _ this _ .”

Tony sighed. “Yeah, I know. It was stupid. Now I am trapped with Prince Charming and a damn bonding contract.

Rhodey sighed. This seemed to just be a typical mess Tony would get himself into and he had no idea if it could be fixed. “Tell me you used protection at least.”

_ “What?”  _

“Protec- He used a condom, right? When you were in heat. I mean, you surely don’t want to get pregnant.”

_ “Shit!”  _ Of course. Normally Omegas prepared themselves for their heat, carried condoms everywhere in case their cycle was all over the place. And normal Alphas were sensible enough to use them when in doubt. But he was not a normal Omega and Steve was sure as hell not a normal Alpha. “We didn’t. Goddamnit, Rhodey, it caught me by surprise, I had no time to… and Steve was just….”   
  
“Alright,” he said. “Alright. Look, this is what we are going to do. I’ll buy you a pregnancy test, okay? You’ll take it and we’ll see. No need to think the worst already.”

“I can’t be anyway. I took suppressants for almost forty years now. Probably I am sterile anyway.”

“Do you really want to bet on it?”

Tony sighed and knew he was right. He had thought about his freedom, about Steve being an unnecessary macho but never had he paid attention to the obvious consequences this could have. Well, he had, but the consequences he had cared about until know had been that he would have to stay with Steve for at least six years before the word  _ divorce  _ could even be considered. “Yeah, uhm… go to level 11 and ask for a test. They always have two spare ones just in case.”

Rhodey nodded. “Hey, I can let you alone right now, right?”   
  
“I won’t jump out of the window if that’s what you mean. They are bulletproof anyway since Reindeer Games rapunzeled me out of here.”

This had to be enough. Rhodey went to the level Tony had told him while Tony had an existential crisis. He couldn’t be pregnant. He couldn’t be. One of the many reasons suppressants had been banned was that the risk of getting infertile was high. This was the only thing Omegas were good for anyway, he thought bitterly. 

When Rhodey came back, he held the pregnancy test in his hands. “I told them I needed it for my girlfriend.”

“Oh, save it. I bet they all know for whom this is.” he unpacked it and read the instruction leaflet. “Plus and minus. Sounds easy. Give me a minute.”

Rhodey, who was sitting on the couch now, nodded. “Alright. Yell if you need something.”

“I better don’t. I bet Rogers will jump out of a window if he hears me yell your name.”

After Tony had locked himself into the bathroom, Rhodey waited. He waited for what felt like hours but he was aware it was only a few minutes. “Tony, you okay in there?”   
  
“Yeah, give me a moment. It didn’t change yet.” Tony’s heart was pounding and he begged to whatever higher power that he wasn’t, that Steve hadn’t done this to him. 

“Tony?”

He stepped outside the bathroom, the test in his hand. “Well… Looks like you are becoming a godfather.”

He let himself fall on the couch and tried not to burst into tears. 


	11. Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey tries his best. Tony finally steps up for himself.

When Steve came back, Tony had calmed down enough not to get a panic attack by his sight. Rhodey had tried to comfort him and to tell him to calm down. After all, he had several options in that matter. Not all of them were legal but his friend had assured him he would gladly break the law if it benefited his mental health.

In the end, both of them had realized that an illegal abortion was too much of a risk for Tony’s health and well being, not to mention that it was punishable by death, adoption without the permission of his Alpha was illegal as well. So there was no way he could do anything without telling Steve how much he had screwed up. He had _begged_ Rhodey to stay for that talk since Tony didn’t want to know how bad it would get along with the other. Rhodey didn’t need much of persuasion. He didn’t want to leave his best friend alone with Rogers either.

“It might be better if you sit, Captain.”

Steven frowned and did so, probably just because of the shock Rhodey would ask something like that of him in his own house. “Do we have a problem, Lieutenant Colonel?”

“Yeah. Actually, we have.” He pointed to Tony although he knew the other had no idea what he was talking about. “We have a very big problem.”

“A problem my Omega can surely talk through with me _alone.”_

“Well, _Tony_ doesn’t. He wants me to stay here when he tells you. And you can thank my self-control I haven’t ripped you to pieces yet. Frankly, I can’t believe _myself_ that you still breathe.”

“Is that a threat?”

“A don’t do _threats,_ Captain. That’s for lesser men like _you.”_

“Listen to me-” Steve took a step towards him and Tony and Rhodey immediately stood and put himself in front of the former playboy.

“You will listen to _me_ now. Or at least to your Omega, who’s in distress. To notice this you must have something called _empathy_ or _instincts_ so I doubt you could realize it on your own. Now listen to him and don’t think of yourself all the time. Have I made myself clear?”

There was silence for a while. Neither Rhodey nor Tony or Rhodey said anything. In the end, though, Steve nodded and sat down. “What’s the matter, Tony?”

“Apart from me loathing you and you destroying my life?”

“Quit being so dramatic.” Steve rolled his eyes. “Now, what is it you want to talk about.”

Tony laid the positive pregnancy test on the table. Steve didn’t know how to react for a very long time. Something inside of him was immediately obsessed with the life presumably growing inside of Tony, told him to protect it whatever the cost. And he knew Tony must feel something like this as well, as hard as he wanted to suppress it.

“You… you…”

“Yeah…” it was like he had no energy left to give him a witty remark. He was pregnant. Him. He was no longer the Tony Stark he had loved to be. No, if he would have to keep the pups, he was damned to stay at home and take care of them. Even if Steve finally stopped being an abusive piece of shit, he would never take care of them. No, he would basically be a single parent.

Too well he remembered how his mother had received not the least bit of help with him and he had been a handful. His father had shrugged it off, occasionally even punished his mother for the way Tony had spoken or acted. And he could imagine all too well how Steve would do the same. This pregnancy was a potential set of punishments that would come much later.

“But that’s fantastic, Tony!”

“I want to offer them for adoption. Or abort. I don’t- I am not ready for this yet, Steve. I never wanted pups. I never wanted a family.”

 _“That’s not an option!”_ he hissed. “You will not even _think_ about this! The pups are mine, just like you!”

“No. The pups are _mine._ They are growing inside of _me. I_ will have to birth them, _I_ will have to take care of them. So it’s _my_ decision what’ll happen to them.”

“This is not debatable.”

“Captain, I want you to listen to-”

“No,” Steve said. “I _did_ listen. I want you to leave now, Lieutenant Colonel. I will have to talk to my Omega privately.”

“I will not leave unless Tony wants me to.” He said sternly. “If you even _touch_ him in my presence I will make sure you can never walk again.”

“You should stop threatening me.”

“Of course. As soon as you stop threatening _him.”_

Tony was so glad Rhodey was here. He was like his personal rock sheltering him from the turbulent waters that were his life now. He was Tony Stark. He didn’t need protection from an alien army, he could deal with a robot trying to kill the entire human population but when it came to his team leader, he was at loss. And scared. The first time in his life he was scared. Not scared to die; Dying hadn’t scared him since he had flown through a wormhole in the sky. His fear was not to die. To grow into the submissive quiet person his mother had been throughout her life. He didn’t want his personality to fade away, to become what Steve wanted of him to become.

“I can threaten him as much as I want; I am his _Alpha.”_

“Yes, and as his Alpha, you are supposed to _protect_ him, not beat him half to death for _talking.”_

“You _dare-_ ” Steve stepped forward, Tony had no idea what he was intending to do. He didn’t have to find out, though - Rhodey was faster and twisted Steve’s arm behind his back. “I said _no._ ”

Of course, Steve could free himself from him rather quickly, he was a super soldier after all. Nevertheless, Rhodey had made his point clear. “You better go now, _Lieutenant Colonel.”_

“One word from Tony and I will shoot you in your sleep.”

“Yes, I got that,” he said.

“Good.” He went back to Tony and hugged him. “Just call me up when he is being himself again, Tones.”

Tony nodded although he was very sure he wouldn’t. Rhodey could not always be here and protect him and _he_ was Tony Stark. He had dealt with worse than a hundred-year-old narcissistic bastard. He would get through this. Hell, he had gotten through three months of captivity. This was a child’s play.

“I mean it.”

“Me too.” He didn’t. “Bye, Rhodey.”

He nodded and stepped into the lift, hoping he could leave them both alone. He had come from Florida to New York just to check up on him and he would certainly do it again if he called Rhodey sighed. Only Tony could get himself into those messes. He could have stayed, of course, but he knew this would make Tony more trouble than it was worth. One unprofessional move and he would lose his military rank and with that any power to help Tony if things got even worse. No, leaving had been the right choice.

When Rhodey had gone, Steve turned back to Tony. “We will not give our pups away, like it or not.”

“ _I can’t, Steve!_ I can’t do this.” Tony tried to stay calm, he really did. “I can’t be a good parent. I never _wanted_ to be a parent! You took this choice from me and now I will make sure I will have one again. I don’t want this spawn of evil growing inside of me just because you _feel like it!”_

“Take. That. Back.” His voice had gotten dangerously low.

“I am leaving. Keep the fucking penthouse.” He balled his fists and went towards the door. Steve was not having any of it and caught up with him, squeezing his wrist.

“You will not go anywhere!”

Something inside of Tony just snapped and he called his armour. The metal was not entirely adequate anymore; His figure had gotten slightly curvier and thinner without the suppressants. But it still fit. He pointed his repulsor at Steve. “Try me, Priklopil!”

Steve seemed to be surprised as well as uncertain. Good. Tony would not make this easy for him. He would leave, even if this meant to get chased by the government, his team and the PRO together. he didn’t care anymore. He would get this abortion. He would go underground and live a not so rich but at least happy live somewhere. He didn’t really care as long as he would no longer be Steve’s personal plaything.

He knew there were other things he would have to think about as soon as he was out of here, but not now. Now his adrenaline was high and he was breathing heavily enough to be a worthy competitor of an asthmatic.

“Tony, you are pregnant. And overreacting.”

“Fuck you, Rogers. I am not overreacting, so stop your gaslighting bullshit! You’ll need more than that to break me. Three months in a cave didn’t, and your lame ass won’t either!” He knew he was babbling and monologing but the words came out of the blue, blurted out as if they had been long due, and in a way they were. “From the moment we met you were nothing but an ass and I won’t let you turn me into a fucking breeding machine, so get your shit together and fucking _leave me alone._ Unless you want to end up as a pile of dust.”

Steve smiled. Softly, not afraid anymore. It was strange to see and made Tony frown. “You would never hurt me.”

“Wanna bet?” he asked. “Because I am pretty good at winning those.” With that, he activated the repulsor and aimed for Steve’s arm. It wasn’t anything deadly or remotely serious; merely a warning shot that would hurt like a bitch.

When he saw Steve flinch he knew it had worked. “If you excuse me now; I am tired of your bullshit!”

He turned around, went towards the elevator and stopped when it opened. JARVIS didn’t say anything, which meant it could only be a handful of people. When he saw who of them it was, he sighed internally.

 The person frowned, not sure what to think of the scenario. “Did I interrupt something?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is merely a chance to thank you all! When I started this ff I told myself to keep writing as long as only two people would keep reading this. And now? We've gone up to 127 comments, 93 bookmarks and over 400 kudos, as we speak, not to mention my 220 new subscribers. Thank you for your support, your ideas and your exact description of feelings you show me with each chapter. It's an honor to read them all and to see how many people enjoy my writing!  
> (Also thank you to google docs, making it possible to write /everywhere/ and Grammarly that shows my swiss ass how to write properly in English)


	12. Deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha plans something. Steve seems to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, this was a random boost of energy. 2200 words within an hour. I have a job interview now, wish me luck!

Tony glared at Natasha, standing almost frozen in the middle of the living room. “Nat.”

“Hey,” she smiled at him, but Tony had spent enough time with her to realize she was analysing the situation. He hoped she could see that he wasn’t being hysterical but if he had learnt anything in the past month, then that everyone was assuming Steve was too virtuous to be wrong. 

“Tony, come back to the couch.”

Natasha was an Alpha and Steve seemed to have issues with that. But since Tony had issues with many things Steve did, he didn’t care too much about the command and hugged her. “Hey.”

Steve knew it was a provocation and was fed up with Tony’s shenanigans already. He tried to keep the growl at a minimum and stood. Nat, who was very aware of the situation, took a step back so she wouldn’t make the scene escalate. “It’s all over the news, Tony.”

“Oh, really, Nat? I haven’t heard. Enlighten me,” he demanded sarcastically. “Trust me; wasn’t my choice in the least. Like nothing is since Mr. Douchebag here thought raping me was a good idea.”

“Tony.” 

“It was, Steve. You can bitch about my heat and my natural state as much as you want but I never asked you to bond me. You just did that just because you wanted to.”

“Well, if you had stayed without an Alpha any longer, you would have worked yourself to death. Destructed yourself like other unmated Omegas.”

“Now, that’s a stereotype,” he huffed and looked at Nat, though he wasn’t sure if he wanted her support or her to hit Steve. Maybe both. Maybe he just wanted someone apart from Rhodey to agree. 

Nat sighed and tried to make sense of it all. She was torn. She had been told from an early age that Omegas were merely a tool to achieve one’s ends and that mating one could only be a mean to get to something. Since she had been taught in the science of seduction, she obviously knew what they wanted. Warmth. Safety. Acceptance. At least most of them. But she knew Tony never had been most of them. In fact, he had always tried to beat everyone else around him in about everything. 

Doing this to him; forcing him to submit to anyone, was a mistake in her eye. After all, Tony was more free-spirited than he would have liked to admit. He didn’t need a mate. She knew if everything had gone as he had wanted, he would have kept being alone until the very day he died apart from the occasional one night stand Tony was so infamous for. 

But she could also understand Steve. She knew her teammate. She knew he didn’t act out of selfishness (she doubted Steve had ever done something out of selfishness). He had wanted to help Tony, only had he not asked him if he wanted to be helped. A common mistake he made. She had accepted long ago that her team leader was oblivious to the difference of what his friends wanted and what they needed. She had no idea how to solve this mess and she was glad nobody asked her to. 

“I seem to have rushed into something.”

“No. I just wanted to leave,” Tony explained. Steve was still holding his arm in agony and Tony still wore his suit. 

“And why?” Nat was not the best mediator but still better than the other members of their team. 

“Well, because Prince Charming here fucking knocked me up.”

Natasha wasn’t sure what to think about that. It was only now that she realized something like this could easily happen without Tony’s suppressants. “I see.”

“No, you don’t. He wants me to keep it,” Tony said. “He wants me to keep this… this… I told him I didn’t want to be a parent. Hell, I never wanted to be. And like every goddamn time, Mr. Virtue just decided I was wrong.”

“We face a crisis of underpopulation. It’s your responsibility to-”

“Cut the crap, Cap. Don’t you even dare to tell me something about responsibility. I became CEO of a company by the time you practiced faking an ID!”

“You will get the pups. Period.”

“The only thing I will get is a hospital admission after I’ve thrown myself down the fucking stairs!”

Steve growled again and approached him, but Natasha put herself in front of him. “Let’s all be calm, okay?”

“Natasha, you can’t be on his side.”

“I am on nobody's side,” she clarified. “I just want to stop things before they escalate.”

“Just like me then. How nice.” Tony muttered. “Listen, Nat. I just want an unbonding contract and my life back, thank you very much.”

“Tony…” she sighed. “You know it isn’t as easy.”

There was no state where abortion was actually legal. If Tony would want to have one, he would have to travel to Europe, Belgium or Switzerland. And as soon as the state would find out about it, he would face much worse consequences than having a child. 

Tony knew that too. Damnit, this was why he had fought so adamantly for his fellow Omegas. Of course, he had tried to force the government to change the law but Alpha lobbies were more powerful than a few people trying to tell them it was wrong. And of course, everyone defended their view with that’s how it’s always been. Tony hated it. He hated the world he was living in, he hated knowing he was pregnant with a child he didn’t want, he hated being stuck with Steve. He hated everything. 

“Fuck it. I am leaving.” 

“You won't,” Steve said. 

Nat didn’t know what to do either in this regard and decided it was best if she would leave and discuss it with the rest of her teammates. they needed to find a solution together. And since she knew Steve and Tony would hardly ever be the same opinion it was better to do this as fast as possible. 

“I should go now.”

Tony looked at her with an almost begging expression. He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted her to stay, to protect him. As long as she was there Steve would not try anything. And by now he also knew he couldn’t leave. He wouldn’t even know where to go. Stark Industries was still his, his friends were here. Fleeing to Europe would only make sense if he would get asylum there. He wasn’t Edward Snowden, so this was highly improbable. He had helped America, not fought it. 

“Yeah. Thanks, Nat,” Steve said. “I’ve got it under control.”

“He’s pregnant, Steve, alright? Remember that.”

For Tony, it must have sounded like she was supporting him in the punishment that would follow but she merely wanted to ensure Tony would not have to suffer too much. She knew Steve would do it anyway, and if she couldn’t prevent it, she could at least lessen the damage. 

“Yeah. I will remember.”

Tony watched with horror how the door of the elevator closed and left him alone with Steve. Only the two of them now and Tony already knew a punishment was in order. He had seen enough of his parents’ relationship to know how this would end. 

“Steve-”

“No. It’s okay,” he said and sat on the couch. 

Tony frowned, not sure if he had got that right. “Excuse me?”

“I get it now,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “I get it, Tony. I thought I could save you from yourself. I thought I could make you a better, healthier person than you are.”

“Pardon?”

“I understand now, I think. You are just not used to being loved. No one ever  _ did  _ care about you. And now that  _ I  _ do, you think it’s wrong.”

“I have been cared for.”

“Really? Didn’t you tell me your parents were never around? That you were raised by nannies?”

He clenched his jaw. “They had a company to deal with.”

“And the many galas? What about that one? Come on, Tony, we both know the champagne and the other people were more important for them than you.”

“That’s not true.” he said. “You know it isn’t. They loved me. Yeah, they weren’t the best to show it but they did. Just like Jarvis.”

“Tony,” Steve sighed. “He was  _ paid  _ to take care of you. It’s not like it was by choice.”

“Stop it,” Tony demanded. “Really, you don’t understand anything about this.”

“Well, I met Howard in the forties so I know well that the only thing he cared about was himself. Not you, not even Maria. It was always him, then the company, then everyone else. He didn’t want to take proper care of you so he gave you the suppressants; So he didn’t have to deal with you anymore. And your mother supported it.”

“Stop.”

“Don’t you see now?  _ I  _ am accepting you for what you are. I accept your ways and your attitudes and yet I don’t leave you alone, because I am your Alpha and I care about you. I want you to eat and drink enough, to sleep enough, to be happy. But I see now it’s completely useless with you. You just don’t see how much work you are and how much effort I put into our relationship. You have no idea how much of a responsibility you are.”

“Steve-”   


“No. I am talking. I could have shrugged, knotted you and left you like everyone before. Like your parents did. And Obadiah. And Pepper. But I didn’t, because I saw your potential. Because I knew you could do better than that. Because I  _ believed  _ in you.”

Tony felt how the same of having disappointed him rushed through him. Ever since he was a little child he had idiolised this man. He had had every Captain America merchandise a child could dream of. His father had told him many stories about Steve, about how he was the perfect person for… well… everything. And he had disappointed this very person. Maybe he was right. Howard had beaten him up when he had presented. After the suppressants had done their job and made him a Beta, he had let him build weapons. Maybe Steve was right. But his mother… No. Probably she had been just as disappointed, given the fact Howard had cursed once that Stark men had always been Alphas or Betas and that this had to be from  _ her  _ line of the family.

“Look, Steve…”

“No, really. It’s okay, Tony. I get it. You just don’t want to be taken care of. You don’t want to. If you want to kill this baby, be my guest. Kill another innocent soul. Work yourself to death. Break my heart. I don’t even care anymore. You are free to do what you want.” Steve stood up and went to the bedroom. 

“Wait, where are you going?” Tony frowned. 

“Well, you said you wanted me gone. So I am leaving. I’ll send you the unbonding contract. You are not my responsibility anymore. Have fun being alone.”

“No, Steve, I…” he sighed. “I am sorry. I know I am a handful. I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Well, you did. You  _ attacked  _ me with your armour, Tony. That’s  _ abusive.  _ I just want to help you and how do you thank me? By hurting me.”

“But you also…”

“I fought with words. Never would I have hit you. You are different, I just found out. You  _ hit  _ me with a  _ blast  _ during an argument.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he tried to justify himself. It hadn’t been anything serious. He had not wanted to hurt him, just to warn him. Or had he wanted that? He was confused to say at best. 

“Well, you did. I  _ am  _ hurt, Tony, and this is your fault so tell me why I shouldn’t just leave.”

“I…” it got to him now. If Steve left he would have no one. Rhodey was in Florida, Pepper had broken up with him. Obadiah was dead, just like Jarvis and his parents. “I am sorry, Steve. Please give me another chance. I am sorry I acted out. I promise I’ll do better. Just please don’t leave.”

He had always hated to be alone. It was part of the reason why he had had so many one night stands. It was better to sleep with a stranger at night than all alone. 

“I will think about it,” he said with a frown. “I’ll sleep in the compound tonight. I need to think this through.”

He left Tony hopelessly pondering in the living room how stupid it had been to refuse his help, to be such a stupid asshole. He had hurt Steve. The one who had fed him and told him when to drink and sleep because clearly, he couldn’t do this by himself like everyone else. 

He hoped he would come back because now it became evident that he had been his best chance to finally be loved, be accepted. The thing he had always wanted.

  
_ Perfect, Stark,  _ he thought,  _ Like always, you blew it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought first the abortion laws in my AU were insane and then I remembered that this is exactly what Alabama intends to do. Stay strong, guys. They can't do this inhumane law forever!


	13. Development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony talk. The wrong person apologizes.

Tony was not sure what to think. 

Steve stayed away the week. And the next. He got nervous. He’d texted him about a hundred times, had surely called him the thirtieth time and thought about what he had done. Making Steve leave had been his goal from the very start but not like this. Not after what he had said. Maybe it was true. Nobody had ever accepted him really. 

His father had hated the fact his son had presented as an Omega. He remembered that he had not talked to him for a long time. His mother hadn’t been allowed to talk to him either. It had been over three weeks where only Jarvis had kept him company. 

He had adored him. Jarvis had always been so understanding of him. He had never ridiculed him for his feelings, he had never told him he was not enough. After he had presented, Jarvis had told him he had always known somehow. He had then proceeded to tell him how lovingly Tony had always cared about his mother and him, how much care he had given his toys. Not that Tony had wanted to hear this; he had been too busy crying into his pillow. 

_ “I can’t be an Omega, Jarvis, I just can’t be. I have no idea how that happened!” _

He remembered how Jarvis had put a hand on his shoulder. He hadn’t been insulted in the least although he himself was an Omega. 

_ “You will listen to me now, Anthony; Being an Omega and being the brilliant mind you are have no correlation. You will change the world, no matter your gender.” _

Strangely enough, this had comforted him. If someone like Jarvis believed in him (and Jarvis had been like a father to him), it had to be true. This was why Steve’s words had almost killed him. 

_ “He was paid to take care of you. It’s not like it was by choice.” _

He couldn’t imagine that Jarvis, the only one to ever understand him, to ever give him a glimpse of kindness, had just done this because he had been paid for it. He couldn’t. But Steve was not really known for lying. He just had no idea what to do. 

He had no idea how it would go on. He was two months pregnant and he had no one he could talk to. Nobody he  _ wanted  _ to talk to, at least. The team had offered him a talk, had told him it was not important to them what gender he was, but he had seen their concerned looks. No, he didn’t want their pity. He didn’t want to hear that everything would be okay and that they would remain by his side. He knew those were lies. 

He didn’t want to bother Rhodey, who already had done so much for him. He had brought him through MIT without a fuss. Tony had been the youngest and the smallest student and as if that hadn’t been enough to be the perfect target, Tony had also never tried to outrun a fight. Maybe to prove something to himself, maybe to prove something to the others. He had no idea. In each case; Rhodey had done enough. He didn’t have to deal with this shit. 

And Pepper… Pepper had told him she never wanted to speak to him again. Never. They exchanged a few emails when it was about the company but nothing else. He had lied to her about his presentation. He had no idea if she was mad because he had lied or because she had thought about bonding with him. Probably the first because Pepper had never been one of  _ those  _ Alphas. 

He was trying to forget. He didn’t drink any alcohol, of course, he was not  _ that  _ stupid but he didn’t wish anything more than an old-fashioned. Several, if he was honest. 

He spent several days in his workshop, trying not to miss Steve.  _ Steve  _ had been the douche. It was not  _ his  _ fault. All he had wanted was a bit of respect for his feelings and decisions. There was no point in being sorry since he had done nothing wrong. Nothing. 

_ “You attacked me with your armour, Tony. That’s abusive. I just want to help you and how do you thank me? By hurting me.” _

Maybe he was right. Maybe he  _ had  _ abused him. If he hadn’t, Steve would not have gone, right? Steve would never play games with anyone. he was Steve Rogers, the embodiment of honesty. 

_ “I fought with words. Never would I have hit you. You are different, I just found out. You hit me with a blast during an argument.” _

He had. Tony had attacked him. He had no idea why he had done this. No idea. He had been so angry that Steve wanted to keep the pups, that he didn’t even  _ discuss  _ the other possibilities that he had just… 

He sighed. No matter how hard he tried; he would always just be like his father. Tony told himself that over and over again until the words lost all meaning. 

Steve had been so right. He had taken care of him. Really taken care of him. With him, Tony had been well-hydrated, well-fed, well-rested. Now? Not so much. 

Tony had a hard time drinking enough, eating enough, sleeping enough. The only thing he managed were his daily vitamins. And only because of the life growing inside of him. 

This had been one of the only advantages Steve’s leave had brought: He had decided to keep the pups. A decision that had made him happy. This had been  _ his  _ decision. Steve hadn’t been there to pressure him into it. Natasha hadn't talked to him and neither had Bruce. No PRO, no authorities, no people. Tony had been able to ask himself what he truly wanted and had been able to decide on that. No matter how complicated his life had just gotten; He had made this decision on his own and no one could take this from him. He would keep the pups. Somehow, he would manage.

Apart from work he couldn’t help but wonder what he would do about Steve. He had left him like all his previous relationships. Of course, Steve had been a douche. He had done things that were unforgivable in only a month. But he was not so sure if those things hadn’t been his own fault as well.

He had heard about Steve’s dashing and flawless personality ever since he had been a little boy. His father had never left out a chance to tell him he had known  _ the  _ Steve Rogers. Steve had been the optimal son for his father and this had hurt Tony more than once. So now it hurt even more. He had had the chance to have a perfect mate, so perfect not even his father had had something to decry. And he had blown it. 

He should have talked to him about it in an adult way instead of just being… himself. He sighed and texted him the last time before going to bed. It was 03:46 AM.  _ I’m keeping them. _

It was the tenth night he was sleeping alone again and Tony had to admit that he had grown accustomed to someone holding him all night. Listening to someone’s heartbeat all night had been relaxing, soothing. He could fight his biology all he wanted but the responses were still there. but now he was alone. No one to hold him, to reassure him.

But was not this what he had wanted in those three weeks with Steve? having him gone, sleeping alone and be happy again? This didn’t feel like happiness. Whatever this was, it was not pleasant. Sadness, maybe. He was angry with himself. He was ashamed to have brought Steve so far. 

_ Just give me another chance, please. I am sorry I did what I did. It was downright abusive of me and it was so wrong that I am still ashamed of myself. Give me a last chance. You’ll see. I can be so much more. _

Still nothing. He sighed and put the phone away. Then he put the soft duvet on top of him and tried to sleep on a large pillow instead. Just when he’d fallen asleep, his phone vibrated. Immediately, he grabbed his phone and glared at the screen, his eyes trying desperately to get used to the bright display. 

_ Just go to sleep, Tony. _

It was no  _ I love you,  _ but it was a  _ I read the messages  _ and that was the only thing Tony needed.

_ I miss you. _

After writing it, he tried to find out if he meant it. Did he miss Steve? Yes, definitely. He missed waking up next to someone, he missed breakfast and the stupid bickering between them and more importantly, he missed his presence all-together. He missed going into rooms smelling like Steve, he missed the comfort after nightmares, he missed a whole lot of things about him. he couldn’t imagine he had wanted to leave him by choice. Really, Tony had no idea what his past self had thought. 

_ I miss you, too. _

His heart beat faster.  _ Then come back. _

_ I’ll think about it. _

Tony wouldn’t give in to this hope automatically, but his heart beat faster. He’d try to get along with Steve if he just got him another chance. Just one. Tony was sure they would make a good team as soon as both of them would make concessions. 

 

* * *

  
  
Tony woke up at 10:43 AM the next day. 

He had no idea how he had been able to sleep this long but it seemed like the life growing inside of him had taken its toll on his life. Not only did he need more rest now, he could also not stand the smell of coffee anymore. This was accompanied by throwing up every morning. Nothing he wanted to deal with, not to mention alone. But he had to. He had decided to keep the pups, it was his responsibility not to lose his shit. 

His phone vibrated just after he had finished his daily routine of throwing up his breakfast. 

Steve had sent him a location a few blocks away.

_ Meet me there in thirty. _

For a minute, he stared at the text almost disbelievingly, then he went to his wardrobe and dressed in a simple t-shirt (“Engineer’s motto: If it isn’t broken, take it apart and fix it anyway”) and black jeans. Then he looked closer at the shop Steve wanted to meet: A Starbucks. 

He would have almost laughed, had he not been so nervous. Steve Rogers in a Starbucks. He could imagine the confusion on his face when the barista asked the sixth question concerning his choice of coffee. 

With a last check in the mirror, he went to the elevator and pressed the button. It was the first time in weeks he had gotten out and as soon as the warmth of the sun hit his face, he felt happier. Instant Vitamine D, he tried to explain to himself. 

It was a nice walk through the park and after fifteen minutes he entered the coffee shop, looking for Steve. The smell of coffee actually made him sick again but he breathed through his nose. Steve didn’t seem to be there yet. Tony went to the barista. “Venti Caramel Macchiato with Almond Milk and an extra shot, with whipped cream and extra topping. Tony. Well… you know what? Forget the coffee. I want a Venti cup of whipped cream with Caramel.” 

The boy - a high schooler, obviously - nodded and looked up. Then his eyes widened. “Holy shit, you’re Tony Stark!”

Tony couldn’t help but smile at that. Yes, he was. It was still him. No matter what had happened in the past three months. No one could take this away from him. “Oh shit, am I?”

“God, can I maybe get a photo? Real quick?”

“Sure, kid. What’s your name?”   
  
“Alex. Alexander.”

“Alright, Alex. We’ll get all of your friends and relatives jealous, alright?” He went to Instagram and took a photo with the student. Then he made sure to link his profile. “...there you go. So, my coffee… whipped cream, whatever.”

“On the house, Sir. I’ll pay it myself. Thank you.”   


“Alright.” he put a bit more than the amount he had to pay into the tip glass. 

“Mr. Rogers is here as well, seems like you’ve got a meeting.”

“Oh, he’s already here? Didn’t see him.”

“Table in the corner,” he explained briefly while concentrating to make his whipped cream mix as perfect as possible. Tony smiled at the effort and thanked him again, then he sat on the chair across from Steve. 

“Hey.”

“Hello.” Steve put down the newspaper and put it to the side. “You wanted to talk.”

“Yeah…” he looked down his coffee. “Look, I know I fucked up.”

“Yes, you did,” Steve said quietly as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hold this conversation. God, Tony felt so bad about this. 

“Yeah… I don’t know why. I’d never hurt you or so I thought. I just… Can we try again? Start over?”

“I am not sure if that would work, Tony,” Steve told him. “I mean don’t get me wrong: You are my Omega. I want to take care of you, of the pups. But I am not sure if I can if you are constantly resisting everything.”

“Which is why I won’t do this anymore. I’ve had time to think. You were right; I was whining and wallowing in self-pity. It’s not your fault my suppressants failed or that I took them in the first place. Thank you for at least  _ trying  _ to take care of me.”

“That’s all I wanted,” Steve said. He was smiling lightly, barely visible. But Tony noticed. Tony was glad. 

“Yeah. I will try to appreciate it more. But I just… All I am asking you for is time, Steve. Those changes don’t happen overnight. And you also have to understand that I am not your personal slave. I have my own thoughts on topics and I want to make my own decisions where it counts.”

“Where  _ does  _ it count according to you?”

“For a first:  _ Stark Industries.  _ I know you are my legal guardian when you are not busy ignoring me.” Before Steve could even open his mouth, he added. “Yeah, I know I deserved it, anyway that’s not the point. The point is that I don’t want you to make decisions there. I have been leading this company since I was twenty-one. I and Pepper are a good team in that regard.”

“I won’t get involved with that,” he promised after taking another sip of his coffee. “I know I don’t understand too much about it.”

This statement surprised Tony but he would be a fool to question it. “And I want you to listen to me when I tell you I don’t want to do something. You are my Alpha, not my  _ mother.  _ I think we are old enough to discuss things.”

Steve nodded. “I agree. But in exchange I want you to follow the simple rules I’ve given you. And not to try to avoid the punishments. If you’ve done something wrong, I expect you to accept the consequences.”

Tony had no idea what to do now. He didn’t want to stay alone but the punishments had been a reason why he had wanted to leave Steve. He knew that those punishments were normal and that about ninety-six percent of all Omegas received them but he had been a Beta for far too long to accept them so easily. 

“I promise.” He had finished eating his whipped cream and stared at Steve’s coffee. He couldn’t believe people were drinking this nightmare by choice. 

“Good. I’ll move in again, then.”

“Thank you.” he was relieved, to say the least. “I just… thank you. I think we somehow… we’ll manage, right?”

Steve nodded. “Yes, Tony. We’ll manage.”


	14. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve wants Tony to go to the doctor's. Tony wants his peace and quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello strangers... So, it's been a month but I just couldn't get myself to write. Now I did though so have fun with the new chapter!

There was a fine line between being a prisoner and five months pregnant, Tony had found out. At least in Steve’s mind. He didn’t know if he had made the right choice. He was sure that every book about domestic abuse would tell him to get the hell out of here. But he had made this choice and he would stand for it. And Steve was not that much of a bad guy if you lowered your expectations. He could even be sweet at times. Sometimes. Mostly in the moments Tony managed to shut up. 

“You were in the lab again.” 

Tony flinched when he heard the voice but put on a cocky grin to hide it. It then changed to a neutral expression. He tried not to look scared, because honestly? He wasn’t. His mood swings were all-present and he constantly moved from _I don’t give a single fuck_ to _Everything bothers me._ “Jup.”

“We talked about this.”

Working in the lab was too dangerous, at least according to Steve. Tony had obviously realized that he couldn’t build his armours with his hands at the moment without endangering the pups, but forbidding him to enter his workshop was ridiculous. “I was working on a few updates. Programming. Really, Rogers, you gotta stop mothering me; doesn’t suit you.”

“If something happens to them-”

“You make sure I am mush, yeah, got that.”

Steve clenched his jaw. “Stand up.”

Tony cursed under his breath but did so. He looked calm but his thoughts were racing; he hated how the smallest of things could push both of their buttons. His rage grew and grew but he didn’t say anything. 

“Now, whatever happens, this is _your_ fault. Remember that.”

It was like something inside of him was released he hadn’t known he even possessed. Not for a long time, at least. “What, are you gonna kick me into my stomach now, Rogers? Is that how you guys did it back in the forties?”

Steve approached him and Tony tried his best not to flinch away again. Steve was furious with the statement and frankly, this was what Tony had intended. He winced when he felt pressure on his wrist. 

“You better stop doing this obn-”

“They are kicking.”

“I- What?” Steve was completely brought out of concept by this and let go of Tony’s wrist. Tony himself didn’t know what was happening. It hadn’t been a lie: They had started to kick and completely surprised him. He put Steve’s hand on the spot. “Here.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “They are… kicking.”

“They are,” Tony nodded and was stunned himself. 

There was silence for quite a time. He had no idea if this was a good or bad timing but both of them were too taken aback to continue their fight. 

Tony never had wanted children. Never. After the childhood he had, he hadn’t been too excited to put someone else through this. And although he had decided to keep the pups on his own accords he had felt weird. Not like he really wanted them. Or did he? It was too late to abort now anyway. The only thing he knew was that he would have to handle being a parent soon and that doubts wouldn’t help him any further.

Feeling them kicking for the first time made him happy although he was aware that Steve had been about to do something very inappropriate and very violent. Really, he had no idea how to handle this idiot any longer. 

Half of the time, he was almost sweet, trying to make life not so shitty for him. Tony had always been a fairly social person and the fact that he couldn’t leave the penthouse without someone potentially trying to stab him in the stomach. 

His pregnancy had been polarizing (“Even more people who are trying to have an opinion about my body. Great Rogers, really, good job”) and discussed in several magazines. Half of the people were content he had finally been _tamed._ Other people thought this was against everything they stood for. The highlight had been him being on the Ellen Show. Really he was a fan of her but sitting in an oversized chair and talking about how he got knocked up was not one of his favourites. 

Even beforehand, he and Steve had discussed what to say to the press as even Steve knew that the truth was unconventional at best. They were not in the forties anymore. Not that it would have mattered; well over half of the population were still dicks. No matter what Tony would have said; in the public eye he had it coming. An unmated Omega in hiding? Scandalous. He often joked that they’d soon release a movie about that aspect of his life. 

“We should finally ask how many we’ll even get.”

“You know _my_ opinion,” Tony said. “I don’t wanna know. I am freaking out enough as it is. I don’t need to know if it’s twins, triplets or quadruplets.”

He sat down and browsed around. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook talked about him non-stop as well, but a certain post, retweeted by an old college friend, made him curious. His name was linked to it but he had not seen it before.

 

 _@TStark I have enough of it. I have enough of people telling me to be domestic and just listen to my boyfriend because of my presentation. If Tony Stark can become a billionaire without those unfair categorizations, what can_ **_I_ ** _become? #MoreThanAnOmega #ORM_

 

He frowned and clicked on the first hashtag. There were dozens of entries and he couldn’t help but smile. About graduation, about accomplishments and moments of independence. He liked all of the entries and put the phone back on the table. Just now he saw Steve’s expression. 

“What?”

“I was talking to you.”

“Jup, I know.” he crossed his arms. “Steve, really, I don’t wanna know how many or what gender. I am huge already so I already know it’s more than one. Enough for me.”

He sighed. “Okay.”

_“Okay?”_

“It’s your choice, Tony.”

“Wait- _Steve Rogers_ is giving _me_ a choice? Call the New York Times!”

The moment he said it, he already knew he had fucked this up, but he blamed the hormones. Even when _not_ pregnant he was a sarcastic ass, but with his body being this confused, he had gotten twice as bad. 

“You are doing it again, Tony. I am being nice, and I am trying to help you. And you? Spit in my face for this.”

“Yeah…” he sighed. “Sorry about the last one. Hormones.”

“I see.”

It was obvious he didn’t believe him. but Tony didn’t really care about that one. He thought about doing something, going out maybe but it wouldn’t be wise, considering many people wanted to kill him just to make a statement. _Down with Traditionalists,_ maybe. He really had no idea. Left extremists were just as bad as right extremists. 

“Steve? let’s go out later. A park, a restaurant, take your pick. I wanna socialize.”

Steve frowned, he had a look Tony had never liked before. Ever. “I am not so sure about that. You might get hurt. You know you are-”

“A ticking time bomb, yeah, got it.” he sighed. “Just a stroll, Cap. I am going insane here. You don’t want me to work, I can’t go outside… what am I supposed to do all day? Knit?”

“For example,” he chuckled. “Something that’s not dangerous.”

“Come on.”

Steve sighed. “Let’s make an agreement. You will let your doctor check how many pups we’ll have and their gender. In return, _I_ take you to a restaurant.”

“Bribery.”

“Probably. Your choice.”

“You said the same thing about the pups.” he reminded him. 

“Well, it _is_ still your choice. If you don’t want to, we won’t know. But you won’t go outside then.”

Tony thought about that and decided knowing how many to expect wouldn’t harm. It wasn’t important to him _not_ to know. He had just said this because he knew Steve wanted to know it desperately (he didn’t know why - probably because the fact you _could_ know in the 21st Century made him excited).

“Yeah, let’s make an appointment for tomorrow. Tonight we’ll go out.”

Steve shook his head again. “let’s do it _today.”_

“It’s four in the afternoon, Steve. I can’t just get an appointment for today spontaneously."

“Yes, you do. You have some influence, surely.”

Tony sighed the millionth time that day and nodded, texting his gynecologist. Mrs. Acerb was a rather tall and stern woman but the right person for Tony. She didn’t sugarcoat what was happening, she didn’t treat him like the fragile creature he seemed to be according to Steve’s actions.

No, she regularly snarled at him, talked to him sarcastically and figuratively kicked his butt if he had gone against her orders. In other words, his personal Pepper Potts for all questions concerning motherhood. 

He had no idea where she stood in the whole _Omega Rights_ Conflict and he didn’t care too much either since she had never treated him any less than Steve. Something very rare, if he was honest. Most of the time she had even asked Steve to wait outside. 

He had confronted her once, asked her why she was so nice to him because this was by God not the norm he had found out. 

“Mr. Stark, if you fire a gun at me, I’ll be dead. It doesn’t matter if you are an Omega, a beta, an Alpha, female or male. I’ll be dead. So if my death isn’t affected by this, my life shouldn’t be either.”

He thought this answer was brilliant, stunning and so he kept her on call with an hourly wage of a Google CEO. 

“Mr. Stark. What gives me the pleasure today?”

“Well, believe it or not; It’s about the pups.”

She nodded. “Oh, really? Well, in that case; lie down and put off your shirt, please.”

“Huh, a bit straightforward. Let me buy you dinner first at least.”

_“Now.”_

“Yes, Ma’am.” he grinned and put the shirt off. She was a Beta so Steve didn’t see her as an immediate threat but Tony knew he didn’t like it when he flirted. Well, not _his_ problem. 

“I want to know how many pups I’ll get. And the gender, if possible.”

She nodded and looked at Steve. “Do you want Mr. Rogers to stay?”

“He does.” Steve nodded. 

“Wonderful, Mr. Rogers. Only did I not ask _you.”_ Really, she was a saint and Tony liked her too much to dread those examinations. 

“Yeah, he can stay.” Tony nodded. 

“Alright.”

The cool gel was a blessing in this hot summer and he looked at the ultrasound with her. 

“Let’s see… I can see one, two, three. You are getting triplets, Mr. Stark.”

He sighed. Somehow he had hoped it would just be _one._ It was rare that it happened but not _that_ rare. He was the best proof for it. 

At least twins. Twins were easier to handle than triplets. Three kids at once. And _he_ in the middle of it. He didn’t _dread_ having kids anymore but so many? He had grown up with nannies who had taken care of them. 

One he remembered specifically was Dominique. She had looked after him until he was five. She had been an Au Pair from France and had been fired as soon as it became clear she had talked nothing but French to him.

He remembered how angry Howard had been that his son didn’t speak a word of English. it was telling, however, that it had taken five years to figure out Tony talked french non-stop. it was beyond him how Howard could ignore his “Je peux avoir l’eau, s’il te plaît?” or the usual “Je n’veux pas aller au lit!”

Tony had needed English lessons from a private tutor, Dominique had been fired and to this day, he dreamed in French and not English. Not that Steve knew that. Tony didn’t like him enough to tell him these anecdotes. 

“What about their genders?” Steve interrupted his train of thought. 

“I can see… two girls and a boy.”

“Alright. What about their presentation?”

She sighed. “It doesn’t work like that, Mr. Rogers. This test would but your pups and Mr. Stark at risk. And we don’t do them here because we think it isn't morally justifiable.”

“I… I see. Sorry, I'm still new to the technology here.” he gave her a warm smile. “So everything is okay?”

“I think so, yes. Mr. Stark, as you know you have a higher risk of your children suffering from illness, due to your age. It’s a risky pregnancy, we had that point covered, right?”

“Yeah.” he nodded. It was bad enough to be pregnant without wanting to, no, it also had to be a pregnancy with a high risk. “But they are healthy so far, right?”

“As far as I can see, they are all healthy.” 

“Thank god.” he looked at her and then back at his stomach. “Can I dress again?”

“Of course. Are there other questions at the moment?”

“Yes, actually,” Steve said. “I wanted to inform myself if home birth was possible.”

“I beg your pardon?” Tony frowned. There was no way in hell he would do this without medical staff, without painkillers and without professionals. 

“I’d rather like home birth.” he clarified. “My mother had one.”

“Yeah, your mother also had no heating or medical treatment. _I_ do.” 

Steve clenched his jaw, clearly humiliated by Tony’s words in front of the doctor. _“Tony-”_

“I am on your side, Mr. Rogers. Natural birth is the best way for healthy pups and doctors should just be called if something goes wrong. I think both of us can agree on this, yes?”  
  
Steve nodded, finally feeling understood while Tony abandoned all hope of finally being taken seriously. “Yes, I think so too.”

“And normally, I would agree to home birth, but Mr. Stark’s reactor has decreased his lung capacity. He will need much of it during birth and there are already high risks of him dying, should we not intervene.”

Steve nodded again, this time slowly. “Is it that serious?”  
  
“I am afraid it is. If he would do it without medical supervision he might die.”

“I see,” he said. It was not what he wanted but if the risks were really that high, he wouldn’t take chances. 

“I am very sorry. Believe me, I would rather have it otherwise. Might I talk to your Omega in private? You can stay, of course, but it’s about details concerning his placenta and breathing patterns.”

“No, I don’t think I will stay. Maybe it’s better if I leave you alone.”

She nodded and waited until he was gone, then she sighed. “It’s always the same with those Alphas if you ask me. In most cases, they want to command everything and everyone but as soon as you are telling them about the gory details of childbirth they want to be everywhere but here.”

“So the reactor is an issue?” he sighed. Brilliant. 

“No, not really. You might have a higher heart rate but nothing serious.”

“Then why did you…?”

“Because it’s obvious Mr. Rogers won’t take no for an answer unless it’s absolutely impossible,” she explained. “And by your mortified expression I could see he didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“Nope. Well, get used to that one.” he grinned. “Thank you for lying for me, doc.”

“Don’t mention it. I mean it. Don’t. Now, to the details of your birth.”


	15. Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony goes into labor.

The rest of the two months went smoothly, even. Tony was way too tired to start big fights with Steve and it was complicated to build up a serious conversation if you had to pee every fifteen minutes. 

Apart from that, he had spent the last two months by designing the nursery and nest. Tony had had no idea how strong the urge to build one would get in the seventh month. Before he had fully realized it, he had looked through several IKEA catalogs and hired a professional interior decorator. 

At least he had had something to do, now that Steve treated every entry to the lab as a felony. The room looked neat, in the end and the nest as well, if he was honest. Not that he would ever use it, of course. But it was neat. And commanding people around was the only thing he could do with a belly as big as Texas. 

In the end, the nursery was painted in baby blue. At the entrance, an artist he liked had painted a hot air balloon on the wall, with many clouds around it. He had made sure someone put light laminate over his Italian marble floor so the children wouldn’t potentially die when they fell over the first time. The windows were bulletproof, now. The door was a fire security door and would hold about six tons. He would not be the best parent, he knew that, but the children would be safe or he’d be damned. 

Of course, he had also decorated it. He had drowned the room in plush toys, had made sure the changing table and the dresser fit together. The books on the shelf had been carefully selected by him: 

The little Prince, of course. it was a classic, a book he had been read as a child as well. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Goodnight Moon, the Fairy Tales of Brothers Grimm and Hans-Christian Andersen. Not to forget Oliver Twist and Winnie the Pooh. Maybe he hadn’t wanted those children. Maybe he would be damned to look after them and even more children if Steve decided to take advantage of his heat again. 

But he was and would always be Tony Stark. 

It was a moment of empowerment when he took out his phone and made a picture of it, posting it on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. 

_ Just because I've ballooned the last months it doesn't mean I won't launch the next products. You Alphas can suck my dick. #MoreThanAnOmega _

He grinned and put it into his jeans again. Seemed like somehow, he had relieved himself of some stress. He hadn’t tweeted anything in the past months, had preferred to pretend it wasn’t there, that  _ he  _ wasn’t there. He hadn’t wanted to answer questions about his pregnancy, about his hopes and fears and about the next steps. He loved to be Tony Stark. He didn’t love to be Captain America’s Omega.

But now it felt better. It was just a simple tweet. Nothing too bad; he’d written worse. Nevertheless: He had just announced to the entire world he was not beaten down yet. He would not become docile and quiet. No, he was Tony Stark. He would roar if he had to but he would not be forgotten. he was the genius of this generation. He was popular, a role model of MIT students. Whatever he was doing now would be a motivation for other people. 

And he wasn’t going to accept things as they were. Not for a very long time, at least. Somehow he would find his way out of this. He had found his way out of Afghanistan, he would find his way out of  _ this.  _ Somehow. 

The law was against him, however. Of course, the Omega laws were not as strict as in Saudi Arabia but really, they could be better. 

Hell, he could not even open a bank account without Steve’s consent now. At least they had a bonding contract where it stated that Steve would not intervene in Stark Industries (thank god Pepper had been present as well). But he could go to no one if Steve got abusive again. Not that it was abuse according to the law: After all, Steve was his Alpha and had every right to treat him like he wanted to. 

Whatever. He couldn’t change it right now. He’d see after the birth. 

“Tony?”

“Nursery.”

Tony sighed. He didn’t want him to be there right now. It had been so calm without him for the last three days. Steve had been on a mission to infiltrate the last HYDRA split group. He hadn’t wanted that Steve died, no, but he had hoped he would be held up for a few more days of peace and quiet. 

“Don’t you want to welcome me?”

“Welcome.”

Steve looked around and smiled when he saw how much effort Tony had put into the nursery. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thanks. Not much I can do without the lab,” he said, avoiding to show it had actually been fun. As soon as Steve would see a sign of that he would feel like he had done the right thing by knocking Tony up and he wasn’t having it. 

“You are due any day now, huh? I was worried I might come too late.”

“Yeah… well, you didn’t.”

When he touched his stomach, Tony took a step back. “We talked about this. You ask me before you’re touching me. I am not a pet.”

“I am your Alpha.”

“And I got kicked out of private school once. What has this to do with my personal boundaries again?”

Steve just sighed.

Tony enjoyed the fact Steve didn’t punish him so far into his pregnancy. It was a pass to say whatever he wanted to Steve and he used it as much as he could. After all, he knew it would change as soon as he would give birth to them. He was due next week and had mixed feelings. 

On one hand, he couldn’t wait to finally get rid of his pregnant belly and the back pain and the people who thought they could touch him whenever they wanted. On the other hand, he was scared. As soon as they were born he’d have to take care of them. Alone of course. He didn’t have any illusions in that matter. 

“How was the mission?”

“Good. One terrorist group less in the world.”

Tony nodded and yawned, stretching his back. “I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Goodnight.” Steve kissed his scalp, ignoring how Tony tensed at that. “I’ll come after you after I showered, okay?”

“Okay, yeah.” He forced a smile on his face and turned on his heel. It was not very thrilling to talk to Steve like they were a couple because they weren’t. He was not ready to play along. Instead of that, he had decided to just ignore it altogether. 

He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and immediately felt how something gush out. He hadn’t peed himself - really, in the past month he had peed himself so many times that he knew the difference very well. 

“Steve? I need you here,” he called and tried to breathe evenly. He was not having this. Nope. Not now. He wasn’t due until next week and he refused to believe it was time already. 

“You need to wait for a second, I am writing a-”

“My water broke. I think I am more important at the moment.” It was like a starting signal because he felt a light contraction after saying it. It hurt a bit but was nothing really serious. He had done worse. He really had. If he compared it to waking up in a cave after an open heart surgery it was rather mild. 

It was amazing how fast Steve could run if he said the right thing. Within twenty seconds he had run towards him and glared at the floor. “There’s…. a puddle.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I need to go to the hospital. Call Happy.” He touched his stomach and tried again to breathe evenly. He walked towards the elevator when Steve stopped him. 

“I’ll carry you.”

“Stop being so overdramatic, Steve. I just need to get to the car and to the next hospital. Don’t worry, I’ll send them a text so they’ll know we’re coming.” He pressed the button so the elevator would open. “You coming with me?”

“Uhm… of course. Yeah.” 

“Stop being nervous, Rogers. You are not the one who has to push out three kids in a few hours,” he made clear. Really, there wasn’t anything worse than having Steve run around all nervous while he was trying to stay as calm as possible. 

Happy was there after another minute of waiting and Tony was glad for planning all of this in advance. Of course the other had also expected this next week but here they were. At least they were driving in his Mercedes. Probably the last time he would enter it without car seats if they’d even fit in there. Tony had to smirk when it was clear Steve had to sit in the back. It got wiped from his face, however, when he felt the first long contraction. 

It was not comparable with anything Tony had ever felt before. It was a pain deep within him, long and it felt like he would burst. “Okay, okay, it’s kinda hurting now.”

“You are not going to give birth right  _ now,  _ right?” Steve asked appalled. 

Tony just snorted. 

“511 rule, you’d know that if you’d ever stayed during a doctor’s appointment. Shit gets real if I get them every five minutes for one minute for at least an hour. Normally, that’s when you go to the hospital.”

Steve nodded slowly. “So why didn’t we wait?”

It was incomprehensible for Tony how Steve could be that oblivious to the things happening around him. “Because my water broke, Steve. Meaning that the pups kinda started this. It’s not important when we go anyway; I donated so many millions to that hospital, I think I could’ve lived there for a week until the contractions would’ve started.”

Another contraction went through his body and he had to dig his nails deep into the car seat. “Okay, for the record: Contractions suck and I am going into labor, so if you could please drive a little bit faster-”

“But you said you weren’t-”

“Shut up, Rogers. Keep it to yourself or I’ll let Happy stop and drop you off.” He could bear many things but Steve’s voice sounded shrill and like something very unpleasant at the moment. All he wanted was to finally give birth. Well, no, he wanted it to be over already but then again he never got what he wanted. 

After a drive of about twenty minutes (it felt like twenty hours to Tony) they arrived and Steve quickly got out to open the door for his Omega. 

“Looks like the old etiquette wasn’t lost completely,” he teased and got off the car as well, although it needed a bit more willpower than he would have liked to admit. 

By the time they were in the room Tony would give birth to, he was almost fully dilated. A nurse commented on the fact that this was one of the fastest processes she had ever seen with someone who hadn’t given birth before. On one hand, Tony was relieved it got faster than normal but on the other hand, this meant he had less time now to physically prepare himself. 

Steve was a nervous mess as well. His hands were fidgeting and he looked more stressed than Tony. Not to mention that he looked like he had no idea what was going to happen now. And admittedly, he didn’t. He had never shown interest in any prenatal courses and had just thought he would get by on his own. After all (Tony remembered the exact words since they had had this discussion more than once), parents had gotten by without them for long enough.

“Are you… okay?”

“Sure, Steve. Three pups are almost ripping me apart from the inside. But don’t worry, I am all good. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.” He took deep breaths like the nurse had said, trying to keep his mind clear at least. 

It took another hour until he was fully dilated. God, being an Omega sucked. He didn’t want to be in pain anymore. He didn’t want to push. He just wanted it all to be over. “I want an epidural.” 

“Of course, Mr. Stark.”

“Don’t you think you can cope with the pain without medication? I mean you survived Afghanistan. You can surely survive a birth.”

“Excuse me?”

  
“I don’t want you to have medication in your bloodstream while you are giving birth to them. That’s not healthy.”

“Mr. Rogers, if I may…” The nurse tried to tell him that an epidural was not harmful to them but Steve seemed to have set his opinion in stone. 

“Are you fucking kidding me, Steve? I am in pain. I want an epidural. It’s  _ my  _ birth and you are responsible for this in the first place. I want to do it pain-free, got it?”

“When I was a kid-”

“Yeah, sure. When you were a kid people still died of tuberculosis.” he managed to say. “I want to be pain-free. Period. Either you accept that or you can wait outside.”

“Omega-”

“So you wanna wait outside? Nice.” Tony would not give in with this and was glad when Steve went out of the room. It was even better than he had thought in that case. He would be able to do this in a safe, calm environment with nurses telling him what when to do. The only thing Tony had to do himself was pushing and trying not to scream too loud. 

But at least Steve was gone. At least the pain would be gone soon, too.


	16. Triplets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony can rest. Steve isn't there.

By the time Steve was allowed inside again Tony was exhausted. He knew they had to call Steve to scent the pups, but honestly; If it had gone according to _him_ Steve would’ve stayed out for another hour. 

Tony was scared he might be mad at him but as soon as Steve saw the pups every anger seemed to vanish. 

“Everything went well, Mr. Rogers,” Midwife number two informed him. Well, at least Tony had called her like that in his head. Now that he could finally think clearly again he could read her name tag; Kathleen. “Mr. Stark needs some rest now, if you would follow me?”

Tony had no idea how the whole scenting process worked but he was more than glad he was finally allowed to sleep a bit. The last few hours had been tough to say the least and his body demanded immediate rest. 

He would wake up hours later in a hospital bed, in Steve’s arms with three little cribs next to them. “Morning.”

“Hello.”

Steve’s soft voice was enough to assure Tony he was safe, that he was calm. He wanted to make a comment about how sexist it was that the girls wore pink while the boy was dressed in baby blue but he was not awake enough for this yet.

“We haven’t named them yet.”

“Didn’t we? No, we didn’t,” he sighed. During the pregnancy, he had tried to avoid looking for names. He knew Steve wanted to give them names of family members, their parents maybe. But Tony knew all too well that this was a legacy they didn’t want. He had only gotten the second name of his father and it had been enough for years of self doubt.

“We could name the girls after our mothers.”

There it was. Tony was too exhausted for this conversation. But last year he had gotten to know Steve better and he knew his way around words by now to keep him from losing his composure. “I know what you mean… Actually, I thought about it as well. But I think we should give them a chance to have their own name, you know? Since we two also started a new chapter in our life.”

Whatever he had just said seemed to convince Steve because he nodded. Tony really wondered how he had not been able to get how to talk until last month. Of course he knew they should be able to talk without having to think about how to present it. But that was a battle for another day. 

“What did you think we should call them?”

“No idea.” he yawned. “Always liked Emma.”

“I see.” Steve brushed his hand along Tony’s side. “I would’ve  loved to see how they were born.”

Tony already knew this conversation wouldn’t end too well. But there was no way he would say sorry to this. “Yeah… Listen-”

“You were in labor. Hormones. I get it. I read something about that.”

He would’ve almost laughed. Only Steve Rogers was able to be obnoxious enough to blame the hormones instead of reflecting his shitty behaviour. “No, Steve. You alpasplained me through my _labor._ If I tell you I need an epidural and that I can’t handle the pain, I expect you to believe me and let me.”

“Alright, I’ll keep it in mind for the next time.”

Tony tensed. _“Next time?”_

“Don’t worry, you’re body will get pregnant again as soon as it’s ready to. You don’t have to be afraid.” 

“Okay,” he said bluntly. There was no way in hell he would have more than three children. He hadn’t wanted them in the first place, he didn’t want even more. Even _this_ pregnancy had been a huge risk and it was a miracle nothing drastic had happened. 

He would find a way to smuggle birth control into the tower. He would not get pregnant again. Maybe he couldn’t shut down his heat anymore, but he knew someone who could give him something to counter the effects of pregnancy now that he knew. 

He closed his eyes yet again and dozed off until he heard a muffled cry. When he looked around to find the origin of the sound, he realized it was his newborn son. Girl one and girl two were still sleeping safe and sound. He wondered where Steve was at the moment but then again he didn’t care enough to actually look for him. Instead, he put the little boy into his arms. 

“Must be hungry, hm?” Tony had never wanted children and the most time of the pregnancy he had been terrified of what would happen if he couldn’t love them. His father hadn’t really been an idol when it came to love for children and his mother had rarely been around since Howard had wanted her around almost 24/7. When Jarvis had come into the picture, Tony at least got a hint at motherly love, but he was already eight and needed years to fully open up to him. He was not really the perfect guy for being a parent but the hormones and motherly instincts seemed to kick in as soon as he held the little boy close to his chest. 

It was nothing he hadn’t been prepared for. Well, more or less prepared for. He had learnt much at the seminars he had visited. He knew how to nurse, well, at least how to nurse in theory. His son would have to do the most of them both anyway. 

He pushed down his hospital gown and decided to stare at a blank space on the wall. All of this was so embarrassing. He knew he wasn’t the only one feeling this way and that most Omega men couldn’t wait to finally have their flat chest back. he was no exception. His breasts had not gotten big (thank god) but they were there. That was enough to feel awkward. His back was turned away from the hospital door so that even if someone (Steve) entered without knocking, he wouldn’t see. 

When his son was finished, he put him back into the crib and wanted to sleep again. He sent a text and put the phone away. This was the exact time the girls started to protest. Tony sighed and was glad at the same time. At least he hadn’t had to deal with three crying babies at once. 

At the end his chest was not as tense as before and he went back to lying in bed. After another well-deserved nap, he heard a knock on the door and told whoever it was to come in. Probably Steve. 

He was pleasantly surprised when the one entering was Rhodey. “Hey, Tones.”

“Rhodey, nice of you to check my after-baby body so soon.” 

“Not even the pains of labor can shut you up, I see.” 

“Nothing in the entire world can.” Only now he discovered a little note on his bedside table. Steve had been called in for an important mission. he didn’t complain, now that he thought about it. He had more time with Rhodey now without Alpha territorial issues on Steve’s side. 

“How’re they called?”

“Haven’t decided yet. I’ll think about it, after all, it’s one of the few honors I have.” Steve may have had the right to decide over their residence and their bank accounts but Tony and only Tony alone was allowed to name them. Actually, he had wanted to involve Steve in the progress but now that he thought about it the moment was perfect. He was gone for at least two days so he couldn’t pressure him into calling them however _he_ wanted to call them. That was the reality in most conservative families anyway: The Omega would go to the PRO with some names their Alpha had chosen and they called it a day. 

“Did you get what I asked you for?”

Rhodey nodded and reached him a pillbox reading _post-pregnancy vitamins_.

“And they’ll work?”

“Strongest on the market. The CIA uses them for their Omega baits in case they need to seduce someone. It’s not a suppressant but you won’t get pregnant.”

“You’re a lifesaver. Literally. I just… I can’t go through this again.”

“I understand that. Really, I do” He glared to the infants. “You could call one after me.” 

“Rhodey jr. or James?” he asked with a grin before he thought about it. “You know what? Nice idea. Say hello to Jamie.”

Rhodey was taken aback for a second “Wait, really?”

“Yeah. You know, I wanted to ask you either way if you wanted to godfather one of them. And Jamie seems to be a good pick.”

“At least call him James. Jamie reminds me of Jamie Oliver. Really, I’ve never seen someone cook so messy.”

Tony grinned at that. It was good to have his College friend back with him. At least they could pass time like this. He felt save with Rhodey, appreciated. He was everything Steve wasn’t. Even back in college, he would’ve been a nice pick as an Alpha. And if the suppressants had failed earlier he was sure he could’ve ended up with Rhodey. His best friend wouldn’t have let him on his own just like that and actually most people had already expected them to end up together. 

When Tony had gone to college with fourteen he had been the youngest student they had ever had. Naturally, his obnoxious know-it-all behaviour had gotten him into trouble in no time. He had been more of a loner until Rhodey had taken him under his wing. 

From then on, he had been respected more or less and doing stuff with Rhodey proved to be fun. He didn’t even leave when Tony started to get… well, off track. 

Rhodey had never questioned his desire to be independent. Also due to the fact he had thought he was a Beta, but even now he couldn’t see any difference in how he treated him. 

“James Stark. Wow, he already _sounds_ eloquent. I bet he’ll study English literature and say things like _In fact_ and _Additionally._ I should raise him with a British accent.”

He put Jamie into Rhodey’s arms. “They’re so small. I literally can’t believe how much it hurt. Really, Rhodes. I’d wake up with an open heart wound every time if I could avoid this much pain.”

“Yeah, I heard the only pain that’s worse than giving birth is being burnt alive.”

“Accurate,” Tony assured him and looked at the clock. It was two PM. Good. He took a pill. 

“You need to take them every 24 hours. They should work immediately. And they are highly illegal so don’t get caught. I could lose my job.”

“I know, Rhodey. Thank you for this. I swear, I… thank you.”

He nodded at that and the room was quiet again, although it was a comfortable silence. 

“How are you calling the others?

"Jamie, Emma and child number three.”

“Tony!”  
  
He had no idea what else to call the little girl. It was not like he was very good with giving someone else a name. Whatever name he would give to her, it would stick with her forever. “Do you have any idea?”

“Not at the moment.” ‘Uncle’ Rhodey seemed to be very fascinated with the boy in his arms and Tony couldn’t blame him. Even if admitting it hurt him somehow, these children had a presence that automatically had him pamper them. He knew the team would surely visit him soon, too so he needed to present a third name by the time they were here. He needed to come up with something but he had never liked to choose something under pressure. 

“You look stressed. Don’t be. I bet every pregnancy and childcare book will tell you the same.”

“Oh, shut up,” he snorted. “I think I’ll go for… Charlotte. Charlie. Simple. Nice. Has a good ring to it. Steve can choose the second name if he really wants to but I think the names are set now.”

Rhodey nodded. He didn’t wear his uniform for once but a simple white shirt. “You could leave him, Tones. I know he isn’t good to you. Hell, everyone with more than two brain cells knows.”

Tony shrugged. “As if he was the worst one. From all the Alpha’s I know, I’d give him a 6/10 in being an ass. And I mean what’s the alternative? Either I leave him and get a lawsuit for hiding my presentation or even worse, the PRO decides Justin Hammer would just be the perfect Alpha for me. Nah, I’m staying.”

Rhodey sighed. It wasn’t like he didn’t know about the problematics. “Alternatively, you could give the lawsuit a try. If you plead guilty and come up with a sob story you could maybe get a lesser sentence. Punishment by Alpha, if you can really sell yourself and you always can.”

He thought about it with a frown but shook his head. “I’ve got some kids now. It’s easier to just stay with him. And… well, hope he dies on a mission. And I mean it’s not that bad. He cares about me. More or less. I mean something to him. I mean, yes, he’s a control freak but at least he does it because he wants to protect me.”

“Tones….” he set Jamie down. “Look, I am also glad you sleep more but what he does is not right. he might not break any laws as your Alpha, but if he wasn’t, you’d press charges, right?”  
  
“Right.” he sighed. “But he _is_ my Alpha, so there’s no point anyway.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re Tony Stark. You won’t tell me you’ll give up after less than a year to-”

“It’s maybe better if you leave.” he sighed. “I am tired.”


	17. Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is a shit dad. Tony's a stressed parent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, guys!  
> Sorry for posting that late, I had a nice trip to Vienna.

James, Emma and Charlotte.

He didn’t know who was more astounded at the conservative names; Steve, the press or Tony himself. Steve had accepted his middle name privilege and they had gotten James Joseph, Emma Maria and Charlotte Sarah. It was not that bad, could have gotten worse when he thought about the fact that everyone’s favourite Omega Jamie Oliver had called one of his daughters  _ Petal Blossom Rainbow.  _

Actually, Tony was also quite surprised. He had been sure if he would ever have kids (however that would’ve worked with suppressants) he would also call them Jimmy Blue Gift Rainbow Prince Charming or whatever name would be scandalous. it seemed he had gotten more rational. 

He hadn’t spoken to Rhodey since that say at the hospital. he knew he was right. he knew he was right and that he would probably even win this lawsuit - although win only meant no imprisonment. But even  _ if  _ he would win, there was nothing that would get better. Steve could fight for custody over the children if he wanted, just out of spite. So with or without a lawsuit, his life would be terrible. And he’d rather be with Steve and the triplets than with no one. Above all, because Steve wouldn’t be able to take care of a kid to save his life. 

He had not thought it necessary to visit a course or even read a book on the matter. Tony had at least tried to learn everything he wasn’t sure about. He knew how to change diapers, how to feed them, what to do if they were sick and what to do if they couldn’t sleep. Tony had always worked best in emergencies and having to learn everything about childcare in under a year definitely was one. 

After three months with the children, Tony could already say that being a parent should be considered a real job and that sleep was overrated, especially at night. Apart from that, he could confirm the rumour that his chest was leaking whenever he heard a child scream. it didn’t matter if it was one of his. Even at the company. 

Actually, he had been surprised Steve had let him handle Stark Industries stuff once in a while. The honeymoon period was over, though. As soon as the pups had been born, Steve had given him a new set of rules and made clear that he wouldn’t hesitate to punish him for not following them or any form of  _ malicious compliance,  _ like he called it.

And as if this hadn’t been embarrassing enough, he had also written it on a piece of paper for Tony to check if he wasn’t sure. As if he was an employee. 

  1. Do as I say
  2. Don’t be impolite or cuss
  3. You will go to bed at midnight and get up at 8 AM
  4. You will not consume raw fish, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine or red meat during your pregnancies or while you’re still nursing
  5. You are only allowed to work eight hours a week
  6. The children are your first priority
  7. You will cook and prepare all meals
  8. No one will be invited to our home without my permission
  9. You will only use the iron Man armour if it’s an emergency and only if I allow it



 

Apart from the fact that Tony had joked he needed to get another rule to complete the  _ Ten Steve Commandments  _ there had not been much to laugh after that. He had not joked. 

Tony had of course soon tried how firm these rules were. He knew during his pregnancy Steve had not even  _ dared  _ to touch him inappropriately but that wasn’t the case anymore. Tony had given him an  _ inappropriate answer  _ in the second week and gotten a spanking almost automatically. It was one of Steve’s favourite punishments, he had found out. Not because Steve had a kink Tony had only found out about now but because he knew that the humiliation was much worse for Tony than the pain. 

Having three kids to take care of at once was challenging but they were not that much work he had to admit. He was glad he hadn’t gotten three kids who would scream all the time or couldn’t be alone at all. No, it was like they knew he was struggling with it still. Most of the time they were either sleeping or playing with each other on the blanket Tony laid out for them. Of course, he played with them, too. Sometimes he would shake their rattles or do the classic peek-a-boo (it was something they very much liked). Most of the time,s though, he was working on his tablet. Steve was a dick. He had told him he could work eight hours a week (way too little and he knew that), but that the pups had to be his first priority, too. This meant he couldn’t go to the workshop without endangering them and that bastard knew it. 

While he occasionally put them into the lab but far away from danger, his instincts didn’t let him concentrate, wondering if they were still sleeping or not. He had tried it with a baby-telephone in their nursery but god, he was too nervous for this. JARVIS had offered his services, even. He was the only conversation partner he had since Steve had decided to work for SHIELD. Fury had asked him not to only cover missions but also work there daily and although Tony had never thought he was that kind of guy Steve had accepted.

This meant less time with Steve - which was good - but also more time alone - which wasn’t good at all. Tony was thinking too much about what he’d lost, about what he had now, if he wanted or not. But he had decided to get them. It had been  _ his  _ choice, he reminded himself. He remembered how lost he had felt when Steve had left and told him it was his fault.

A mixture of hormones, fear and gaslighting had him go to him and begging him to take him back. 

No. 

He knew it had not been hormones. He knew Rhodey had been right. If he had really wanted to, he could have won a lawsuit against Steve. The lady at the PRO had either really thought it was the best option he had or just wanted to know him within an Alpha’s reach. Somehow, he would have managed to lessen his sentence maybe. But he hadn’t wanted that. Because the truth was that he didn’t want to do this alone. The thought scared him. 

If there was anything worse than getting screamed at from Steve because he had made a minor mistake then that no one was screaming at him at all, that the house would stay as empty as it had been in his childhood with no one to talk with apart from an abusive father and a mother who loved him very much but wasn’t allowed to spend much time with him so she would not  _ corrupt  _ him in her Omega ways. At least back when his dad thought he might be an Alpha or at least a Beta. Quietly, he had asked Steve about this one evening but the other had just frowned and told him that this didn’t make sense at all. _“They need their mother.”_

He had clenched his jaw at that and quickly corrected him. _“Parent.”_

He didn’t like being called a mother although he supposed this was what he was. Maybe because he had never thought he’d actually birth children. He didn’t want to remember he had birthed them, that he had been the one to push them out. He knew he was not their father by any standards, but he could live with saying he was their parent. 

While Steve was at  _ work  _ or whatever he should call this he made sure to take care of all three of them the same, although Charlie needed special care; she was not heavy enough for her age. The rest was a child’s play. And although he was mostly annoyed at Steve’s inability to do anything childcare like, sometimes it amused him that a full diaper gave his Alpha a look of horror and that a scream from a kid had him shocked, as if he was about to have a panic attack. 

It was only funny if Tony reacted in time, though. Because if he failed to rock them or change their diapers in time, he was punished as well. They were supposed to be his first priority after all. 

It was not an unusual thing to do if you were a conservative Alpha. Sadly, Tony was just none of these traditional Omegas who liked it this way. Ever since the Omega rights movement had developed in the eighties, there had been more Alphas and Betas realising it couldn’t go on this way. The laws hadn’t changed much since then but the minds of people had. 

Of course, most of the judges, policemen and congressmen were still very traditional Alphas (“Comes with power”, he would always think bitterly) btu the doctors had gotten more liberal, the lawyers had. He had no idea about the numbers but if he had to guess he would say about a third of all Alphas was liberal enough to maintain a normal relationship. They had learnt Omega were people too (what a realisation). He liked the change of course but he knew it was still not enough. And what use did it have if there were Alphas like Rhodey if the other party was so much stronger? Just now they were discussing a new Omega Rights Law in congress and from what he’d heard it didn’t look too good. All the rights they had finally gotten - the right to press charges when they were raped, the right to insist on child support - would be gone within the year if this bill came through. And the worst thing of all was that Steve fully supported this. Of course, he fucking did. 

“Your heat starts in a few days.”

Bruce was helping him in the lab for once so he could at least do  _ some _ shit done. The kids were in their nursery, he was trying to leave them there again and hoped this time it would work. 

“I won’t talk about it, Banner. And just FYI: It’s kinda rude to tell me that. I know my cycle, you know.” And it was embarrassing even Beta Bruce could smell it on him. he needed to find a better aftershave. 

“Oh… of course. Sorry, I just… didn’t work with an Omega before.”

“Yeah, because most of us can’t graduate college before some dickhead decides to knock us up.” He rolled his eyes and took the screwdriver in the other hand. 

“I am sorry.”

“I fucking hope so, Bruce.” He wasn’t mad at Bruce per se, he hoped the other knew that. Well, probably not. But it was good to just let go of his rage for a moment. 

Whatever. 

He wasn’t Iron Man anymore. Couldn’t be with Steve deciding it was too dangerous (as if being Captain America bore less risks). He wasn’t even Tony Stark anymore. He had no idea who he was apart from an Omega with too many kids to cope with. 

He fixed another screw. “Give me the other screwdriver, yeah?”   
  
“Uhm… here.”   
  
“Thanks.” It didn’t even need two minutes until JARVIS told him Nick Fury was calling. Probably Steve. That idiot could listen to his voicemail along with Steve. He called again. Tony still redirected him. He didn’t feel like getting into a discussion with him or his der Alpha. 

When Bruce left an hour later, he got a bit curious, though. At least after checking after his pups. All of them were fed, their diapers clean and sleeping.  _ Good for me. _

“J? Don’t mistake it for curiosity but what did Fury want?”   
  
_ “According to the voicemail he wanted to offer you a job, Sir.” _

His eyes widened and he stopped walking in the middle of the room. “Come again?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be a major plot point later and change... things


	18. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony goes to Fury and regrets it instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Not dead. I know it seemed so.   
> I have started a new job and I really thought I could just go on like this. Heh, stupid little me.   
> I will keep on writing this and if it should ever come to me abandoning this fic, I'd inform you.   
> Pinky swear. Thank you for all the people still sticking around ;)

Finding a babysitter for the triplets had been easier than he had thought. Bruce was taking care of them and Tony was sure the Beta would do a decent job. He was more worried about Steve’s reaction when he’d find out Tony was at SHIELD instead of being the nice obedient stay-at-home Omega he wanted. Actually, he didn’t care that much. He could take punishments quite well by now. 

He had needed some preparation until he’d gone to SHIELD: He had put a binder around his chest to flatten it (there was no way he’d let them see that) and put on an old suit of his father that had been too big for him even when he’d been on suppressants. It was a good way to conceal his curves though. The amount of aftershave he put on so the others wouldn’t smell him was ridiculous. The suppressants had also suppressed his scent and Tony wasn’t really down for snide comments. 

When he strolled into SHIELD he was confident on the outside. A mask he had perfectioned over the years; Think less, smile more. He winked at some employees who seemed to talk about him behind his back and pretended like self-doubt didn’t exist. Fury waited for him in one of the conference rooms, it seemed. He already thought about a good excuse to give Steve as to why Bruce had needed to babysit when he stopped. 

Fury was facing the window, though he knew he could see him through the reflection of the glass; Fury was too paranoid to look away otherwise. He had crossed his arms and looked into the distance. That wasn’t what made him frown though; Steve sat at the conference table.”Tony.”

“I didn’t know you’d be here, too.”

“Obviously.”

Seriously? Had this been a test? Had Steve just wanted to see if he would ask for permission to meet Fury?

“Look, I don’t care about what’s going on. Stark? Sit down next to Rogers. Got a job for you both.”

Tony sat down, hands at the table. “You could’ve told us we would both be on that mission.”

“You wouldn’t have come then.”

Tony hated the fact Fury was right and nodded. Steve seemed to have the same thoughts and gave him a polite nod. It was idiotic to claim otherwise and Fury knew that. So Tony just let him have this smug grin without complaint. “What kind of mission is this?”

“One that requires both of your assets. Does the OPP say anything to you?”

“Yes.”

“No.” Steve frowned, not really sure of cornflakes. Tony looked at him, half doubting he really had no clue. Then again, Steve was so oblivious to this kind of shit sometimes.

“It’s a club. Well, since March they are also a political party. They want to fight for a change in the constitution and they want a tightening of Omega laws. Very conservative and very-”

“Omegist, yeah. He gets the picture.” Tony turned to Steve and looked at him, ready to spill the beans. 

“As brief as possible, Stark.” Fury warned. 

He sighed. “They want a world where about twenty percent of the population gets reduced to breeding machines. Basically.”

“That’s… horrible.”

Tony glared at him to check if he was really serious or just oblivious. Both, it seemed. There was no reason for Steve to lie to Fury, so he really had to think this. If it’s that horrible you could fucking stop acting the fucking same!

“I didn’t know it was SHIELD’s field of activity. You don’t usually interfere with political parties. Why now?”

“We don’t plan on interfering. But we need some information from one of the members. And undercover-”

“Don’t even end the sentence, Fury.” Tony stood. “You have agents for that shit. If you even think I will go to the OPP alone without my suit, you’ll goddamn-”

“Stark.”

The room was silent and Fury made sure to keep the eye contact until he had calmed. Even fucking Fury was using his biology to his advantage, Tony thought bitterly as he broke it at some point, looking down. 

“Good. You will not go alone. Rogers and you will find the informant and bring him here.”

“Is your budget that low or is personnel shortage being a bitch?” he crossed his arms. 

“None of our agents have the-”

“Of. Fucking. Course.”

“Tony.” It was Steve this time. “I wanna hear what he has to say.”

“Oh, I can tell you what the hell he has to say.”

“The problem is” Fury started to finally get the attention on him again. “That it is a very exclusive party. You need to apply for a spot and to be invited. And you need to be someone they want to have. Of course, they would never turn down Captain America.”

“I see.” 

His expression was unreadable and for a brief moment, Tony thought he’d turn him down. Finally. Some common sense. 

“We’ll do it.”

“Excuse me?” Tony had done many things way over his comfort zone already but this? This was too much. “We have triplets at home who would like us back alive.”

“It’s just a club, Tony,” he said as if his mate was an impertinent child that didn’t want to go to bed. 

“You have no idea what kind of club this is. Hell, you didn’t even know it existed until five minutes ago. They did some things to people… there are people in mental institutes never coming out of it again because they messed them up so bad.”

He had heard of them, though. Even when everything had been alright, over two years ago, he had known about the OPP and had tried himself to get some answers, to stop this party before it would get out of hand. Sadly, as a Beta, he had not been able to join. There were stories about Omegas who had been completely torn inside, unable to ever have children again. Mentions of Omegas so traumatised that they had not been able to come out of their apathy. Ever. The thought of this party had disgusted him two years ago and they had only grown since. The thought of getting into it was disgusting and at the same time intriguing. Maybe he could show those bastards now what he was capable of.

But the triplets. 

That was his main concern. If it would go wrong, horribly wrong, they’d be orphans. Maybe it was his own history that made him be terrified of it. He knew just too well how it was to lose his parents that early. And frankly? Steve did too so he didn’t understand why the triplets weren’t an argument. 

“I was hoping you’d say that, Rogers. Now, I think we should discuss the formalities tomorrow. For now, you should probably go and discuss this.”

“We will.” Steve said. It didn’t sound too promising, at least for Tony. And really, he wasn’t wrong. 

As soon as they arrived home, Steve smiled at Bruce, thanked him for babysitting and made sure he was gone before he pressed Tony against the wall; and not in a romantic way. “How. Dare. You?”

“How dare I what, Steve?” he asked back, finally having found his anger again. “Are you fucking serious? You want me to go to the OPP with you? You want me to become one of those damned-”

“Not another word from you, Tony. You will not contradict me like this. And just when I thought we had established some rules.”

“You. You established some rules. You never asked me for my fucking-”

It had been weeks since he had been backhanded the last time and he was sick of it. Rhodey had been right. He should have left Steve and just face the justice system. Oh, he had been so stupid. 

“You will be quiet like you should be.”

“Fuck you, Rogers.”

“That’s enough.” He wrapped his hand around Tony’s wrist and pushed him on the bed. “Put off your shirt.”

“Steve-”

“No. Put. it. Off. 

Tony did. He had tried to struggle at first but really; the consequences weren’t to his liking. It was better to avoid handcuffs or even worse. It seemed like they would go to the OPP if he wanted or not. And it seemed the night wouldn’t turn out like he had wanted it to turn out anyway. 

When Fury had called he had felt like he was close to freedom. Now he knew it was even worse than he’d thought.


	19. Dread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steven get into their first OPP party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am literally so sorry for not updating for so long, my updates will obviously take less long now. I didn't forget about that story, just had some problems within my relationship and the family... yeah, you know how it is...

What he did expect was what was expecting him once they were invited inside. Rich men in tuxedos drinking champagne and laughing while their partners looked down and pretended not to be there. A buffet mainly reserved for the pregnant partners of their members.

 

“As you can see, we are an exclusive club, Mr. Rogers. With a lot of opportunities as well as a lot of contacts. if you want to follow me around? Your Omega can chat with the others of his kind, yes?”

 

Tony looked at Steve, not even sure himself if he wanted this or not.

 

“Yes, I think it might be best if he socializes.”

 

“I’ll see you soon, then.” Tony nodded and went over to the buffet. In retrospect, he could tell it went downhill from exactly this moment on.  

  
  
  



	20. Realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve at least tries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here I am again, like promised!

Tony had known from the start that his reputation in the OPP would be ambivalent. His reputation was ambivalent in general. He knew that most of the Alphas present in this club saw him either as a nuisance or as a perfect example of their new ‘world order’. The Omegas, however, surprised him. Most of them were quiet, even now, when their ‘Masters’ were gone. Some talked about their pups or their houses but that was definitely the minority. When he got led into the room, even the last conversations stopped. 

He could literally feel the stares but didn’t make them notice. He was on a mission, not to amuse himself. And so far, nothing bad had happened which was a miracle himself at the OPP. 

“Don’t worry, it’s just me,” he sighed and let himself fall onto the couch. 

“You’re Tony Stark.”   


“In the flesh, sweetheart.” He could understand why they had a hard time believing it; After all, the pups had completely changed him. His body had a lot more curves and he was still struggling with losing the weight he’d put on during the pregnancy. He knew he was safe here, this wasn’t the critical room of the OPP. This one was reserved for mated Omegas, Omegas who were protected by their Alphas. 

What had always worried him were the others, the ones ‘invited’ to the party. He knew that they went inside there without knowing how dangerous it was. While more experienced people knew what’s going on, youngsters were not very afraid from the ‘Omega Protection Party’ and would love to accept invitations from them, not knowing what they were getting themselves into. 

Tony tried his best to start a conversation about literally anything. In the end, they were talking about their pups. Not a very progressive topic, but better than nothing. 

Steve got led around meanwhile. He was impressed by the enormous house and the old furniture that reminded him of home. His host was explaining a few points of their philosophy and it really spoke to him. He had almost forgotten he was on a mission. 

“We believe that Omegas cannot protect themselves from harm, Mr. Rogers. Which is why we will do everything to ensure their safety.”

“Finally someone who has come to their senses,” Steve replied, still observing the room. “I have also found Omegas these days get let alone too much. Even if they can defend themselves now physically, they cannot stop their self-destructive nature.”

He wondered what Tony was doing in this exact moment but trusted the men around him not to put him into danger. They wouldn’t anyway. They wanted him as a member. 

“Mr. Rogers, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Leaving Omegas on their own has to stop. It’s brilliant to hear this statement from you. I would like to show you something.”

Steve nodded. “Of course. Lead the way.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to enter the room his host had meant to show him. On the contrary; Steve was sure his host had only waited for a good opportunity to show him. 

The room was protected by two other members and a double door that could only be opened from the outside. All in itself, it looked like every other room in this house with one small difference; There was a double bed in the middle of it. He didn’t have time to think about what was going on because a young blonde woman, in her twenties at the very most, got led into his direction. He was about to decline the  _ kind offer  _ when she turned stumbled into someone else’s arms, muttering a soft. “I don’t want this.”

Steve didn’t know what was wrong but the girl was definitely not in her right mind. She couldn’t even stand straight. He knew there was no alcohol involved; he would have smelled that. There was another scent in the air but he couldn’t tell what it was. 

“Calm down, Alicia. You’ll be alright. You’ll feel so good.”

“No” The girl, although voicing she had no desire to take part in this, pressed against the man holding her like she was about to implode.  _ Heat.  _ That was what he had smelled. But a different kind of heat, he couldn’t quite name it. 

“Stop playing hard to get, look how much you want this.”   
  
“Mhmm.” It was peculiar to look at. The girl0s resolve seemed to fade every minute and soon enough she bared her throat and let the man guide her to the red king sized bed. Her ginger-red short hair fit her green dress, that was all he could really say about her. Seconds later, she was busy kissing the man that had held onto her. Something very private in his opinion, he looked away. 

The woman was not even able to undress anymore and as the man did this as well, Steve wondered more and more if this society was the right place to be at. He had never had a kink in that direction and looking at other people having sex was not to his taste, especially when it was so obvious the other part didn’t want this. There were moans, there was begging and there was a knot at the end, but he knew that had something to do with biology, not want per se. He thought it was done when the next man went to her as soon as the other’s knot had gone down. It repeated itself again. And again. Steve had never seen anything like this before. At the end of this, he was disgusted, no, revolted. Especially after the first Alpha bonded her with a bite. 

“It’s a pill. Let’s their heat come forth within minutes.” His host, ‘Amphiro’, explained as if he was talking about the weather. “It has made things a lot easier for us. Unbonded Omegas come here thinking they will have a nice time. And we give it to them. In a way.”

“Why force them to? That girl didn’t want this.”

“Mr. Rogers, you said it yourself; They are too self-destructive to pick this themselves.”

Steve felt like he was going to be sick. “I see. And this is what you do all day?”

“No.” he smiled, more politely this time. “We are trying to get a change in law so that Omega’s over twenty  _ have to  _ bond with someone. For their own sake.”

“I see. It’s a good thing, what you want to do.” Something wasn’t right. It just wasn’t. He thought back at the girl that had so desperately wanted to end this. Was it really fair that her biology spoke up for her? Would it be righteous to say a starving man dying because of a poisonous cupcake had dug his own grave? He begged to differ. 

“It is, Mr. Rogers. I trust we can count on you?”

“You can.”

Tony’s evening had been much more boring compared to Steve’s. He had chatted with the other Omega’s and exchanged some numbers. Janice, William and Angela seemed to be cool people, or at least not quivering before their Alphas like ninety percent of the rest. It was a nice change to talk to someone else than Steve or Pepper. He hoped he would not have to visit too often, though. Hopefully, they would figure all of this out soon because this cult was a catastrophe, no matter how many times they would stress they were a party.

It took Steve about two hours to get back to him. After that, he led him back to the parking lot and both of them drove home.

“They’ve lost their minds.”

“What did they show you? The filed lawsuits against them or their plans to world domination?”   
  


“Forget it.”

Tony was too tired to really care and just nodded. He was dead tired and angry that there hadn’t been any alcohol served. He was still nursing but to him, this was a matter of principle: They didn’t trust him not to drink and thought he needed to have the alcohol kept away for his sake. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

“Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you would have had children if your father hadn’t told you it was wrong? Did you  _ want  _ to have children when you were younger?”

“Does that matter?”   
  
“To me, it does.”

“Not to me. It doesn’t matter what I wanted. You decided this for me so I’ll have to live with it.”

“But you love the kids.”

“I do.”

“So it was a good-”

“Steve.” he interrupted him. “I know what you want to hear from me but no, I won’t tell you it was the right decision. Sorry. You forced me into this. I will not forgive you for that.”

The rest of the car ride was quiet. The rest of the  _ evening _ was quiet. Eventually, both got to bed. Steve held Tony tightly and Tony let him, like always, because he loved to be held. And since Steve would be the one holding him until the day he died, he’d let him do it over and over and over. 

 

 

 

Fury was not very pleased when he found out that they had nothing so far. His normally stern face seemed to be in a competition with itself ( _ How serious can I look? _ ) while Tony shifted in his seat uncomfortably. 

“I am not blaming Stark; It was not his task to find out more about our contacts. It was  _ yours,  _ Rogers.”

“I need more time. Did you really think they would trust me like that after the first evening?”

It seemed to please him or at least stop him from going on Tony’s nerves. More than he did anyway. His thoughts were far away, somewhere between his pups and Steve’s question yesterday and he didn’t want to get interrupted, pulled out of his state. 

“In that case, you’ll go again tonight.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too.”

“Good. You can go.”

“Thanks.” Tony got out of the chair and straightened the fabric of his Armani suit. He wasn’t quite sure whether he would find a babysitter in this short time period and thought about taking it as an excuse. Could this be an excuse? Maybe he could stand his ground and finally be the same he was before all of this had happened. Maybe not. He wouldn’t risk it. There were far more important things on the table than his pride. 

“So, what about Jamie, Charlotte and Emma? Will they take care of themselves in the meantime or…?”

“Bruce can take care of them.”

“Bruce has other things to do. For example, living his life.”

“We’ll find a way. Maybe we could take them with us. Many Omegas had their pups with them.”

“Of course, Steve,” he scoffed. “Endangering our lives is lame. Endangering the lives of our children is the new shit, I heard.”

“Tony-”   
  
“No. I won’t come with you if we don’t find a sitter. Period.”

“You will come with me to that mission, Tony.”

“I just said no.” he said. The more he said no the better it felt, the easier it got. “You’ll have to make me.”

Tony should have expected the pull on his hair, should have expected to hit his head against the wall but he didn’t. It took him completely by surprise. He groaned and held his bleeding head. 

“We’ll go home now.” 

Tony looked up. 

Steve was ranging, his fist trembling out of anger. He was no one to mess with right now and Tony knew that. Enough not to contradict him again at least. He stood, straightened his suit again and went outside with his Alpha. After he got into the car, Steve’s features softened again. Tony had found out a long time ago that car drives calmed him down. 

“I am sorry I-”

“No, you’re not. Quit it.”

“You just-”

“I made you angry and you have the anger management of a four-year-old, yeah.”

“Stop being so provoking, Tony, I mean it.”

“Stop being such a bitch, then. I don’t feel well anyway, least thing I need is  _ you _ .”

He had felt dizzy ever since they had gotten into Fury’s office and it didn’t get better in the least. Not to mention the headache he had since yesterday. Really, he had had better days. 

“We should lie down, then.” Steve proposed. His voice was caring for the first time since the pregnancy and Tony surely wouldn’t turn down a break.

“Yeah, thanks.”


	21. Inconvenience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steve share another heat. Also, cliffhanger.

Tony woke up sweating and it only took him a second to realize why. He could feel how slick he was, how much he was burning for it, for this. Counter to his first time with Steve he still seemed to be right in the head and knew what he was doing.

“Steve?”

“Sleep, Tony,” the other mumbled while holding him tightly. He was probably too exhausted to smell it, Tony thought. Nevertheless, he couldn’t delay it much longer. 

“Please…”

Now this made Steve listen. Tony didn’t beg on a daily basis and never because of nothing. “Are you ok-  _ oh.” _

“Please. I need- You know,  _ that _ . I really, really need it, Steve.” 

“Shhh, Tony. I know, I know. I am going to help you.”

“Mhmm.”

He had already put his arms around his neck and pressed against him. His biology unmistakably wanted him to be with Steve and Tony was feeling too hot to reconsider. He just needed the longing out of his body, the burning. He needed Steve, needed his touch, his praise, his everything. 

“You will be good for me, won’t you?”

“Mhmm. Please.”

“Please?”

“Yes.”

“Say it again.”

“Please.”

“Again.”   
  
“I need you, Steve, please, I need you, I will be so good for you.”

“I know. I know, love. I will give it to you. You need a strong Alpha, hmm?”

“Yes, yes, please. I need one. I need you. Please, make me feel good.” It was exhausting to say what Steve wanted him to say, no to get what he wanted immediately. In the end, Tony was frustrated and still trying to get through to his Alpha, to show him the necessity of it all. 

“I like you like this. Docile, obedient. Maybe I should wait for a day just for all the awful things you said to me.”

“I’m sorry. Please, Steve, I need it. I’ll be so good for you if you just-”

“Like this, Omega?”

Tony could only hum when he felt both fingers entering him. He relaxed completely, even leaned into the touch. It felt  _ divine _ , like Christmas, Easter and his birthday all together. “I don’t need preparation. Just-” he got on his hands and knees, the position he knew Steve loved the most and presented himself. “Look how wet I am. I need you so much, can’t you see it? Need you to pin me down and-”

Steve was already set into motion and grabbed both of his hips with a force Tony hadn’t known until now. When lined up at his entrance, Tony took a deep breath. This would be so rewarding and with the pills, he swallowed every day he wouldn’t get pregnant again. Not that Steve knew this. 

He felt how Steve entered him. The things he was feeling right now were enough to make him forget about his surroundings. When Steve got faster, Tony couldn’t help a moan. “Yes, there, just there, gh-”

“There, hm? And what do you want me to do?”

Tony just whimpered. No one would believe him if he said Captain America was into Dirty Talk. He tried making him do it faster so the burning would stop; He pressed against him and groaned into his pillow, praising him for how good it felt, all to make him go over the edge faster. Steve had other plans, however.

He lasted an astounding amount of time. His rhythm got mean in time; against Tony’s pace and not rewarding enough to make the Omega cum. “Do you want me to continue?”

“Yes, god, please, I need it.”

“Do you want me to knock you up all over again, Tony?”

Tony had to admit in his great shame that it sounded like a dream come true in this state to get even more children. He hummed. 

“What was that?”

“Yes, please, give me more.”

“You want more children with me, Tony? Do you want to get pregnant all over again, heavy with my pups?”

“Yes, please. Please, Steve, I want it so badly.”

“Then you’ll get it.” 

His pace got better for Tony and probably also for himself and before Tony could realize what was happening, Steve’s knot inflated and made sure both of them didn’t move. Tony felt exhausted already. His endorphins got the better of him and he fell asleep after the knot came down. He knew the next three days would be fun, just not in a good way.

 

*

 

It seemed Fury got even more pissed at them for taking three days of heat vacation but what else were they supposed to do? They went back to the OPP three days later with little to no motivation on Tony’s side. He didn’t want to be here. They arrived slightly earlier than the last time. They’d make it for dinner. 

“You enjoy this, don’t you?” Tony muttered. “I hate this club so much.”

“It’s not a club, it’s a society.”

“Now you are talking like them already.”

“Tony. Enough.” 

Tony was too tired to debate this. Whatever. He could stand for another few hours to talk to Omegas about what breastfeeding technique they used - there was not more to discuss anyway. 

They stepped inside the house yet again and got greeted by someone else. “Mr. Rogers, how are you doing? We missed you.”

“My Omega got into his first heat after the pups. I apologize.” 

Tony realized Steve was being very polite and wondered if he didn’t want to be here either. Quickly, he shook the thought out of his head. 

“Now what?”   
  
“We have a gala tonight. Well, a birthday party for one of our-”   
  
“Incredibly rich dubious Alphas?” Tony asked and immediately got slapped across the face for it. And not by Steve.

“You should control your Omega, Mr. Rogers.”

“He’s always been mouthy.” Steve sighed. “I will handle it.”

Steve’s grip around his wrist tightened and Tony winced. This seemed to please the other man. 

“Good. Your Omega can attend as well.”

Tony knew this wouldn’t be fun. He didn’t even  _ want  _ to know what he needed to expect but nodded. He was Tony Stark, he’d been through worse than this and being Steve’s would at least keep them from doing whatever they were doing to the others. 

“I’ll follow you shortly. I and my Omega have to discuss his behaviour first.”

“I see. We will wait for you, of course.”

There was a good chance he would get a black eye, Tony thought bitterly. He didn’t care. His life seemed to be a spiral of caring and then not-caring recently. Maybe depression although he actually didn’t have the time for those inane things. 

“There is no need to wait. Actually, I think I’ll need a room to make sure he learns this time. He is exhausting, to say the least.”

“I believe you. Really, he must be a burden.”

“Only sometimes.”

Tony was not sure if this was just an excuse to snoop around or if Steve was really intending to punish him. The Alpha had had terrible mood swings, lately. 

As soon as his grip tightened when the other was gone Tony knew this had not been a ruse. He hissed at the sharp pain soaring through him. “Cap-”

“No. What do you think you are doing, Tony?  _ Do  _ you even think?”

“I didn’t.”

“Stop. Now. Or I will drag you into the next room and make sure you can’t walk tomorrow, are we clear?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Good. Now, we’ll go to that party and you will not say a single word to anyone. If I even hear a  _ rumour  _ of you being mouthy, I swear-”

“It was just a comment. It’s not like I am getting out of this disaster so let me have my fun.”

Steve’s expression was dangerous, this much the other knew. But he’d built up enough rage so he wouldn’t care. For that, he got slapped in the face. It took twenty more minutes of them sort it out, which more or less resulted in an injured wrist and a very uneasy Tony. 

When they strode into the room, the party was already going down. Steve reached a glass of orange juice to Tony and he muttered a quiet “Thank you.” As if nothing had happened. 

Tony hated this life, hated the fact Steve could do what he wanted, legally as well as socially. Of course, there were liberal Alphas but he was none of them and even with all he’d done, the law was on his side. Things had to change. He had always wanted things to change. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, if I may get your attention?”

Tony looked over to the man, just as Steve. That what he said next was shocking was nothing Tony hadn’t expected. Seeing Steve’s shocked, desperate face, however, was definitely a surprise.


End file.
